The Travelers
by Angelikah
Summary: Klaus Mikaelson: Manipulative, possessive, and a dangerous assassin. Enjoys killing people, dislikes walks on beaches. Caroline Forbes: Slightly neurotic, a decent human being, and Klaus Mikaelson's new handler. Likes babydoll dresses, dislikes mass murdering psychopaths. This should end well. Klaroline-centric. Dark!Klaus, Crime/Mafia, AU/AH.
1. The New Recruit

**A/N: So, here is the new Crime/Mafia story. It's not _quite _all written yet, and the updates will be NO WHERE NEAR as frequent as Safehouse, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. I should update about one chapter per week (but don't hold me to it). ****  
**

**Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**May 19****th****, 2012**

Caroline let her eyes fix on the scenery outside, which over the last two hours had transitioned from towns to forests, and now to a neatly paved road wide enough for one car that seemed to go on for miles. Stefan was fidgeting uncomfortably in the driver's seat, and she didn't blame him one bit. He had after all just told his best friend that he had essentially been manipulating her for years so that she'd continue with gymnastics, martial arts, and cheerleading, not that she wouldn't have continued them on her own anyway, to make her ready to join some secret organization, The Travelers, that free-lances in a variety of different illegal activities.

When she had said as much to him, he had grimaced and said, "Well, when you put it like that it sounds pretty terrible."

She agreed, though she personally felt that it probably would have sounded terrible no matter what way he put it.

She and Stefan had been friends since Kindergarten, and until he had been shipped off to boarding school in the middle of the fifth grade after his dad died they had been inseparable. Of course, she had been informed during lunch two days before that he had never been at boarding school, and she was not at all impressed by that information.

After finishing up her first year at Whitmore College and her parents' accident a week ago, Stefan had invited her out for lunch and asked if she was looking for a job. When she said she would be interested, he warned her that if she took the job she wouldn't be able to quit. She thought he was joking.

He wasn't.

"What _do _you do for this place, anyway?" She asked, as she fished around in her purse for her chapstick.

Stefan considered her question for a few moments. "I do lots of different things. I work with a partner, Klaus, and we're one of the best teams in the area, so we get a variety of assignments."

"What's Klaus like?"

"He's the most dangerous person in the world."

She laughed, snapping the cap of her chapstick back on carefully and then rubbing her lips together. "How so?" She asked.

"Klaus is…Well, short answer is that he has a short fuse, and he's one of the best assassins we have. That, combined with his _wonderful_ personality, makes him extremely dangerous."

"Your partner kills people?"

"Yeah." Stefan said, clearly anxious, but resigned to the direction the conversation was going.

"Do you kill people?"

"Sometimes. Clients hire us to kill people and make it look like an accident, or at least like a suicide," seeing the expression on her face, he hastened to add, "Caroline. You probably won't be killing people."

"No shit I won't be killing people. Are you crazy?"

"Caroline, calm down."

"Calm _down_? Stefan, you _kill _people."

"What did you think 'illegal activities' meant, Caroline?"

"I don't know, not killing people?"

"Caroline, if you're not serious about doing this, you should probably tell me now."

"No, I am."

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"No, I really am, I swear. It's not like I have much of a choice now. But, like, my parents _died_ five days ago, I just finished my first year of college and I don't even know if I've passed my classes yet, and now you want me to join some secret illegal organization where you _murder_ people?"

"Look, I know it's been hard—"

"Do you? Do you really? Because as much as I'd love to believe you, I don't."

"Caroline, I know this isn't the ideal solution, but you need time to grieve away from Greensboro, and I think that after you get situated, this might actually be a good fit for you. And you won't have to kill people unless you take on that kind of job."

She glowered at him and turned to look out the window. Stefan was her best friend and she trusted him, and if he said that she wasn't going to have to kill people, then she believed him. It wasn't like she could turn back at this point anyway. She had always been good at adapting. She could do this.

She continued alternating between giving herself a mental pep talk and practicing her deep breathing exercises until they passed a creaky-looking wooden sign reading "Mystic Falls, Virginia" and pulled into a gravel driveway in front of the most beautiful house Caroline had seen in her entire life.

Stefan helped her out of the car and they walked up the front path to the sturdy wooden double-doors. He punched in a code on a keypad over the doorbell, there was a click, and he pushed the doors open. Caroline barely had the time to glance around the lavishly decorated front room before Stefan was ushering her up the stairs and through a hallway with numbered doors. They stopped in front of the door labeled "112" and Stefan pulled her inside.

He gestured for her to sit on one of the overstuffed plush couches in the corner, and he took the other.

"Okay. So, this place is basically just a bunch of empty offices, although there are a few in use. It's really only for show, mostly used to do orientations and meetings with clients. After we're done here, I'm going to bring you to the old Lockwood property, and we're going to head down to the Caves, which is basically a set of underground tunnels that connect to different buildings around the town. Each facility we use is connected to the Caves. With me so far?"

"Yeah."

"Good. We're going to talk to Jenna first, she'll tell us where you're staying. Dean dropped by your house and packed up all your stuff, so it'll be there when we get there. You'll only be staying here while they're figuring out what to do with you."

"Who's Jenna?"

"She basically just makes sure everyone has a place to stay and all the administrative details for the buildings that no one else thinks about, like keeping the training facilities running and the safehouses stocked. She has a few other jobs too, but nothing else that you'll have to deal with."

"Okay."

"I think you'll like her," Stefan said, grinning at her. "Tomorrow," he continued, "you'll need to wake up bright and early to meet with Alaric."

"How early?"

"Early enough that you'll want to go to bed around ten."

Caroline wrinkled her nose. She was many things, but a morning person was not one of them. "Who's Alaric?"

"He helps train new recruits."

"Oh. Okay. Do you know what I'll be doing?"

"Not killing people." He said, smirking at her.

"Right, but like, how do the tests work?"

He shrugged and smirked slightly. "That's a surprise."

"I hate surprises."

"I know. Don't worry, he'll probably have you spar with him, and then you'll talk about other options once he figures out that you have the worst right hook I've ever seen in my life."

"Yeah, but I could bitchslap James Bond's face off." She muttered.

"True that."

She huffed irritably, watching him walk over to the file cabinet near the window and rifle through the top drawer before pulling out a giant stack of paper.

"This is a contract. It's basically just a giant stack of paper you sign to commit to confidentiality."

"What happens if I break the contract?"

"Don't break the contract, and you won't have to find out."

"That sounds ominous." Caroline muttered, grabbing the pen Stefan was offering to her.

"Just don't do it."

By the time all the paperwork had been sorted out—she made sure to read it all thoroughly, and she was confident that she hadn't signed away her first-born child or anything—and they had left the building it was early evening. They walked down the forest road to what she assumed to be the Lockwood property. They arrived at what looked like the entrance to a basement. Stefan bent down and lifted up a rock to reveal a metal covering that he opened to a keypad similar to the one at the door of the mansion. After typing in a code, there was click and the basement door released slightly so that he could pull it open. He gestured for her to enter, and then followed after he replaced the rock, closing the entrance behind them.

She expected a bunch of damp tunnels, but she was surprised to find what basically looked like an underground office building. The floors were smooth stone, and the well-lit walls were painted a light shade of green. There were doors along the sides, and she could see a few hallways branching off.

"How did they manage this?"

"I asked that once, and Klaus just kind of stared at me for a minute and then shook his head and walked away. My guess is that we probably don't want to know."

She nodded, following him as they walked. Since The Travelers was supposed to be secret (although, how secret could it be if they had clients), she expected the hallways to be confusing, like spy movies, but the hallways had, as her mom used to put it, "excellent signage."

The hallways were deserted, which she assumed was because everyone was at home—was assisting clients with illegal activity a nine-to-five job?—and she was currently following Stefan in the direction of "Temporary Living Quarters."

As they walked, he continued what seemed to be an endless lecture on the inner workings of the organization, which she tuned out most of to observe her surroundings.

"There are a bunch of different areas you could be assigned to, but as I said I think you'll be behind-the-scenes. Besides the guys who actually go out into the field, like me, we have a medical center and a tech department, as well as a bunch of administrative positions that keep things running. Klaus' brother Elijah makes deals with the clients, for example, and Damon does a bunch of organizational stuff for us."

"It'll be nice to see Damon again." Caroline said, trying her best to sound at least a little excited about it, but that just made Stefan chuckle.

"You don't have to pretend to like him, Care."

"He's your brother."

"Yeah, but you're not obligated to like him like I am." He said, making Caroline smile.

They turned into a hallway that ended with a staircase, which they climbed up to a landing with a door that Stefan pushed open to reveal some sort of kitchen, which connected a small room with a desk and a file cabinet. There was a pretty young woman sitting at the desk reading a paperback. She stood up when Stefan closed the door behind him.

Walking around the desk, she stuck out her hand for Caroline to shake. "Hi, you must be Caroline, I'm Jenna. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too."

Jenna pulled open a drawer in her desk and fished around for a few seconds before pulling out a keyring and gesturing for Caroline and Stefan to follow her back through the kitchen to a little lobby. "This building is a one-story motel where new recruits come to stay. It isn't much, but we try to make it comfortable. Your have room three, which is just the third room down the hall. Your stuff should already be there. I'll let Stefan help you get settled in."

She unlocked a wooden door with a "3" painted on it to let Caroline inside, and left after pressing the key into her hand.

The room was small, but had all the necessities. Her bright pink polka-dotted suitcases were set on a double bed in the center of the room with a hideous floral comforter. The end table and dresser were made of the same cheap-looking wood, and she wrinkled her nose when she noticed that the floor lamp had mysterious-looking stains on the shade. A door on the opposite side of the room was slightly ajar to reveal a bathroom. She started over to unzip her luggage.

"You won't want to unpack all of that stuff. You'll probably only be in here for tonight while Jenna figures out where to put you. We usually have two or three people to a house for safety reasons. Sometimes four if the house is big enough."

"Oh. I'll have to share?"

"Yeah."

"Would I be with you?" Caroline asked. She dug through her suitcases to find an outfit for the next day so that she wouldn't have to search through her suitcases all week.

Stefan laughed. "No, probably not. Jenna usually has same-sex housing unless a couple asks for their own place. She's kind of traditional. And you won't want to wear that tomorrow unless you usually like working out in skirts."

Caroline wrinkled her nose and repacked the blouse and skirt she had been holding, and picking out yoga pants and a tank top instead.

"Anyway," Stefan continued, "I think you're seeing Alaric tomorrow at seven-thirty, so you should probably get some rest. Set your phone alarm early enough that you'll have time for the walk over after you get ready. You just have to go back to the cave entrance and follow the signs to the gym. The key code is 7-4-5-2-7, but I'll text it to you so you don't forget."

"Thanks Stefan."

"No problem. Goodnight Care."

"Night."

She brushed her teeth and then spent a few minutes searching for an outlet to plug in her phone. After setting her alarm for six in the morning—six in the _fucking _morning, god she hated her life—she changed into pajamas and got in bed.

This whole thing was more than a bit overwhelming. She hadn't really had much time to process what was going on before Stefan had her packing up her stuff at her mom's house. Now that she was alone and had time for a private moment, she decided to use it to have a silent and intense panic attack, stressing herself to sleep.

* * *

**May 20****th****, 2012**

The next thing she knew her phone was blaring a cheesy pop song and there was sunlight streaming through the dusty windowpane. After resisting the urge to cover her face with a pillow and let herself sleep some more, she threw off the covers and padded into the bathroom to start the shower, swearing to herself that she would give whoever this Alaric person was a piece of her mind for requiring her to wake up at such an ungodly hour.

She mentally scripted the lecture she was going to give the guy as she went through her morning routine and stalked through the hotel and down the hallways in the Caves towards the open gym doors.

A middle-aged man met her at the entrance, introducing himself as Alaric, and she was about to start her well-prepared speech when she had the wind knocked out of her by a male body colliding with her side. She heard Alaric scolding someone named Jeremy, and a guy that looked around her age grasped her hand and helped her hoist herself up.

"Sorry, we were running laps and we weren't looking where we were going."

"It's okay." Caroline said, a bit breathless.

He was _cute_. Tall, with dark hair and an easy smile. He was covered in sweat and his shirt was sticking to his skin revealing a _very _muscular chest. He looked amused by her appraisal and felt her face warm. She stuck out her hand. "Caroline Forbes."

"Tyler Lockwood, nice to meet you Caroline."

"Likewise."

The other boy, Jeremy, walked over, sheepishly running his hand through his hair. "Sorry, my bad. I wasn't looking."

"It's okay." Caroline said, smiling.

"Go ahead and clean up. I need to get a sense of where Caroline is, and I can't do that with you two taking over the gym during her training time," Alaric said, making shooing motions with his hands.

"See ya later, Caroline." Jeremy said, walking past her out of the gym.

Tyler waved goodbye as well, and caught up with Jeremy to leave, grabbing his hand. _Why are all the good ones taken or gay… _

Alaric turned to her and grinned at her. "This is going to be really fun, Caroline. Are you ready?"

The next two hours _sucked._

She basically spent the entire time wondering how Stefan ever thought that she could do this job. She knew she wasn't amazing at martial arts, but she felt completely inadequate. The only one of her skills Alaric seemed even remotely satisfied with was that she knew how to fall. He also seemed mildly impressed by her triple back-handspring that she did when he asked what kind of gymnastics she did, but he informed her that as cool as it was it probably wouldn't be all that helpful in practice.

Her limbs ached, and when she complained about it enough he finally gave her a water break, but only after assuring her that they'd start doing "actual work" afterwards. She was not excited. While she drank her water as slowly as physically possible he asked about her hobbies. After she regurgitated the extensive list of committees she had led and events she had planned, he grinned.

"Good. So, I think that I'm going to talk to Silas—he's the big boss—about putting you as a handler."

"A what?"

"A handler. It would basically be your job to facilitate communication between the agents, make sure everything's on track, and make sure people get their shit done. You'll still need to be able to hold your own in a fight, at least well enough to get away, and you'll get first aid training that's a bit more in depth than the guys that are actually doing the dirty work."

"Oh."

"I still have to talk to Silas about it. However, since you'll need to know this shit no matter what you do, why don't you do pushups until I get some sparring pads in your size."

By the time she stumbled out of the gym around lunchtime, Alaric calling after her that she should come the next morning ready to go at seven, she was absolutely convinced that Alaric was Voldemort in disguise, or at least a sadist.

Jenna met her at the gym entrance, and motioned Caroline to follow her down the hallway. Caroline decided that it should be illegal to look so chipper when talking to someone after they had done four hours of exercise. "How was your first session with Alaric?"

Caroline didn't dignify that with a verbal answer, and contented herself with a long-suffering sigh.

"Went that well, huh?"

Seeming to realize that Caroline wouldn't be talkative anytime soon, she got to the point. "One of the girls, Elena, is moving in with her fiancée, so her twin Katerina needs a roommate. Elena moved this morning, so your things should be there by now. I'll walk you over, and then you can take a shower," Jenna said, wrinkling her nose.

"Thanks." Caroline said dryly.

The exit from the Caves that they used opened into a shed in the middle of a park. Caroline tripped over a lawnmower and swore.

"Are all these secret entrances actually necessary?" Caroline asked, as she picked herself up off the floor and stepped carefully towards the exit.

"Probably not," Jenna said shrugging, "But they're fun."

They walked through a small residential neighborhood together, and Jenna told her about the living situation.

"This isn't like a college dorm. We pay for your utilities, obviously, but we don't cook for you or fix anything. You guys are all responsible for your own grocery shopping and upkeep. You could probably think of it like a housing complex."

"Does everyone in the town belong to the organization?"

"No, but we own a little under half the houses here under various aliases, and we rent some of them out when we don't need them."

It was about a fifteen minute walk from the shed to a cozy-looking one story house, and Jenna used every second of that time to give Caroline directions and answer her questions. Jenna opened the door to the house and then handed Caroline the key, ushering her in. "Your room is the one with your luggage. Katerina is out right now, but I'm sure you'll meet her soon. I've gotta run. See you later, Caroline."

Deciding that the first order of business was a shower, she quickly located her room to grab an outfit and then found the bathroom. The bathtub was huge, and the rim was so full of beauty products that she could barely find room for her razor.

She decided that this Katerina girl probably wouldn't miss a squeeze or two of her shampoo, and she was too lazy to go back to her room to grab hers.

* * *

**May 29****th****, 2012**

She was draining the pasta she had found in the cabinet when there was a knock on the door. She quickly dumped the pasta out of the colander into a bowl and then walked to answer the door, wiping her hands with a dishtowel.

Stefan was standing on the doorstep, and she opened the door wider to let him in. "Hey Care, how are you settling in?"

"I'm fine. Katerina still isn't back from wherever she is, and I feel like I'll get more anxious about meeting her the longer she's away."

"Well, to be honest you probably should be worrying."

"What?"

"Kat's kind of intense. Damon is engaged to her twin sister Elena, so I spend a lot of time with her."

"Damon's engaged?"

Stefan laughed. "Yeah, I know, if someone had asked me two years ago whether Damon would ever settle down I would have laughed in their face."

"Right there with you. Anyway, when should I expect her back?"

"She'll probably be back tomorrow."

Caroline scooped some sauce onto her pasta and gestured for Stefan to take some as well, which he did, and they sat down at the kitchen table.

"What's she like?" Caroline said in-between mouthfuls.

"She's…" Stefan trailed off, gathering his thoughts. "She's a character, definitely. She can be kind of bitchy, and she doesn't like very many people. She's smart though, and funny in that sharp sort of way where even when she's making fun of you you'll laugh."

"Oh. She sounds like she could be difficult to live with."

"Elena had trouble dealing with it, and they're twins. But I think you guys might actually get along if you give each other a chance. You have similar interests. And either way, you shouldn't get on her bad side."

"Why?"

"Kat and Elena are Silas' granddaughters, and he's pretty terrifying."

"Isn't he the head of The Travelers?"

"Yeah. He is. He's pretty protective too. They're all he has left. His family started The Travelers a few generations ago. He was engaged to Qetsiyah, who used to be in charge of the tech stuff, but he fell in love with her best friend Amara. Anyway, a whole bunch of drama happened, and Silas got Amara pregnant with Kat and Elena's mom, Isobel. Then Isobel got married to an agent from our Idaho location, John Gilbert, and they had Tatia and then Kat and Elena. There was this huge car accident right around the time Damon and I joined up. They were going on a family trip, and Tatia, Amara, John, and Isobel died. Elena and Kat were in the gas station buying snacks, so they survived."

"Wow. That's pretty tragic."

"Yeah, it is. They don't talk about their family much, so I wouldn't bring it up, especially with Kat. Do you know who Elijah is?"

"I've heard of him. You've definitely mentioned him."

"Elijah is Klaus's brother. He and Tatia dated for a bit before she died, and he's dating Kat now."

"This sounds pretty soap opera-y."

"It definitely feels that way sometimes."

Caroline nodded, chewing the last bits of her pasta. "Do you know when I'll be done with training?"

"That's a question for Alaric, not for me."

"Oh. Okay."

She stood up to rinse off her bowl in the sink, grabbing Stefan's on the way over.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" She heard Stefan call from the living room.

"Sure."

"I'll do the dishes and you can go pick something out from Kat's move collection. If you're careful to put everything back where you found it, she won't notice." Stefan said, coming up behind her and moving her gently out of the way, taking the bowl out of her hands.

"Okay, thanks Stefan."

"Yep."

Stefan randomly paused the movie about halfway through.

"I have to head back to my place."

"It's nine o'clock, Stefan."

"Yeah, but you probably have to go to the gym pretty early tomorrow anyway."

Caroline groaned and stood up, stretching. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I think I'm going to end up out for the next few days," Stefan said apologetically, "but I'll be back before you know it. You'll be really busy."

"See you soon then," Caroline said, hugging Stefan goodbye.

Once she had finished her nighttime routine and was in bed, she realized that Stefan was going on a mission the next day. A mission that most likely involved murdering someone. It occurred to her that she should probably be about five thousand percent more freaked out than she was. She was now the member of a secret illegal organization and was being trained to help mercenaries kill people.

_Wow, Caroline, _she thought to herself, _you certainly make excellent life choices._

* * *

**May 30****th****, 2012**

"Good morning, sunshine!" Alaric said, as Caroline entered the gym.

She sent him as filthy a look as she could muster this early in the morning, and drained the last of her coffee. She saw Tyler and Jeremy sparring on the other side of the room.

She grinned in their direction, and Jeremy noticed and waved at her. Tyler gleefully took advantage of Jeremy's momentary distraction to shove him down on to the mats.

"Sorry, they tend to take over the gym in the mornings." Alaric said from behind her.

"It's fine, it's kind of cute actually." Caroline, said turning around.

Alaric thrust a bundle of padded clothes into her arms. "Go change, and come back here as soon as you can. We've got a lot to do this morning. After we're done though, you need to take a shower and then meet me at the offices."

"The offices?"

"Yeah. I'm sure you've been there. That's where you sign the contracts and all that."

"You mean the giant mansion? Stefan said that it's only used for client meetings."

"It is, mostly. But the people that deal with clients on a frequent basis have their offices there just to make it easier. We're going to see Silas to talk about your placement. I think it'll be easier for you if we just jump right into the handler stuff."

"Oh. Okay. Do I need to bring anything special?"

"No, just yourself. Go change. You have ten minutes, and if you're not back by then we'll do extra pushups." Alaric said, grinning at her.

She groaned and trudged off to the closest bathroom.

**XXX**

The man in front of her was tall with a square jaw and a serious face. He still had a full head of hair, and if Caroline had seen him on the street, she wouldn't have pegged him as a day over 40, at the oldest. He strode towards Caroline and stuck out his hand. "Miss Forbes."

She shook his hand and sat across from him in the chair he gestured for her to take.

"Alaric was most impressed with your organizational skills."

She nodded. "Thank you."

He eyed her, and she had the distinct feeling of being judged.

"Do you know what a handler is, Miss Forbes?"

"Sort of? Alaric told me some stuff."

"Your job is to arrange transport to missions, reserve safehouses and hotel rooms, provide contact to your superiors and clients with your partners. You are to ensure that your missions are executed correctly."

"Okay."

"You will train with Damon Salvatore for the foreseeable future. He will 'show you the ropes' so-to-speak. After he deems you proficient, I will transfer him to a different team, and you will take over duties for Stefan and Niklaus."

She resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose, and Silas seemed to notice that she was not happy.

"Is there an issue with my choice of mentor, Miss Forbes?"

"No, not at all."

"Are you lying?"

"Damon and I knew each other as children. We had a short romantic relationship when I was 16, and he didn't treat me well. It ended badly."

Silas raised an eyebrow. "I assume that it will not interfere with your professionalism?"

"I'll behave if he does."

She was sure that the corners of Silas' mouth twitched, but it was suppressed so quickly that she wasn't sure it had even happened. "I will be assigning you to replace Damon once you finish your training. If you'll excuse me, I have work to do. Let me see you out."

He stood up and she followed suit. He started to move towards the door, but before he had moved an inch it slammed open. A young woman barreled into the room at top speed, her kohl-lined brown eyes narrowed in fury, and her five inch stilettos click-clacking harshly on the polished wooden floors. Completely ignoring Caroline's presence, she slammed her hands on the top of his desk.

"Papa, Jenna moved some new girl into my house without asking."

_Rude._

"How was your trip, Katerina?" Silas asked, looking completely unsurprised by the girl's tantrum.

_Oh. That's Katerina. Fantastic._

Katerina was clearly not in the mood for pleasantries. "It was fine. Now, you need to talk to Jenna and tell her that I _refuse _to be treated in this manner. I roomed with Elena because she was my sister, but I won't live with some bitch that I haven't even met."

This time she was sure Silas was holding back a smile. Caroline cleared her throat softly. Katerina whirled around to glare at her. "Who the fuck are you?"

Caroline stuck out her hand, "I'm your new roommate. Nice to meet you Katerina."

The other girl curled her lip and pointedly ignored the offered handshake and turned back to Silas, presumably ready to start ranting again. Before she could open her mouth, however, Silas spoke.

"Katerina, this is Caroline. She is Stefan's childhood friend. She is training to be his and Niklaus' handler."

Katerina scoffed.

"My expectation," Silas continued, "is that you make an effort, Katerina. And by 'expectation' I mean that it is _not_ optional."

Silas turned to Caroline. "My granddaughter and I must discuss her trip. I am sure we will speak again soon."

Caroline took that as a dismissal, and left to go back to her house—her and Katerina's house.

Her phone buzzed on the way home, and she opened it to a text from Damon.

_I'll meet you at the shed entrance to the Caves after you see Alaric tomorrow. Welcome to the big leagues, Blondie. _

Oh, goodie.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed/will enjoy writing it. :)  
Constructive criticism and/or reviews help me get better. I love them :P**

**Hugs!  
-Angie**


	2. Settling In

**A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews/follows/favorites! I'm looking forward to sharing the rest of this fic with you all. We meet Klaus in this chapter, as well as a few other characters. :)**

**Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**May 30****th****, 2012**

If there was one thing Caroline had learned about her new roommate since she had left Silas' office earlier that afternoon, it was that she didn't seem to understand the concept of a request; Katerina phrased everything as a demand.

And it had only been three and a half hours.

"I'm going to use the shower," she called over her shoulder to Katerina, as she walked to the bathroom, fluffy towels in hand.

"Don't touch my stuff."

Caroline tried to restrain an eye-roll, although she didn't know why she bothered because Katerina couldn't see her face. The shower was hot and soothing, and she walked downstairs in her pajamas to find Katerina sitting on the living room couch painting her toenails a lurid pink while some trashy MTV drama played on the television.

She walked to the coffee table to retrieve her phone, which she'd left there after returning from the meeting, and Katerina wrinkled her nose as Caroline walked by her.

"You smell like unicorn vomit."

"How do you know what unicorn vomit smells like?" Caroline asked, torn somewhere between amused and affronted.

"Fine, I amend my statement. You smell like Barbie's perfume after she finished her awkward teen phase."

"Thanks…?"

"That wasn't a compliment."

"I know."

"Of course you did, cupcake."

Caroline walked back to her room, silently counting to ten and trying not to respond. She'd like to know what Katerina's definition of 'making an effort' was, because it was different than Caroline's. She had to wake up at an ungodly hour the next morning, and she'd be damned if she let Katerina ruin the few hours she had to sleep.

* * *

**May 31****st****, 2012**

"Good morning Caroline!"

"No matter how many times you make me get to the gym by seven in the morning, it will not turn me into a morning person." Caroline said, yawning.

Alaric just smiled at her and motioned for her to follow him. "Since you're not going to be primarily fighting, we're just going to make sure you have the basics down. Once you're done with this stuff, I'm going to send you to work with Sage on most days instead."

Caroline stretched while he talked, and then ran her usual five laps around the gym. Once she was done, she jogged back to Alaric, breathing hard, and bounced on the balls of her feet a few times just to keep moving.

"I'm going to try to grab you, and I want you to fight back. Okay?"

"Okay."

He lunged and grabbed her by her forearms, spinning her around and pinning her arms behind her. She struggled, and then stepped on his foot, but he didn't let her go.

"I'm going to let you go now."

She rubbed her arms once he let go, knowing they were going to bruise.

"How am I supposed to fight back against that? You're stronger than me."

He smiled. It was infuriating. "Don't let me grab you in the first place."

"How am I supposed to manage that?"

"Why do you think I make you run so much?"

She snorted.

"But, if you know you won't get away, go for the most sensitive parts of the body. Don't be afraid to hurt them, because they'll hurt you. Do you know where the most painful places to hit are?"

"Nose, neck, ankles and knees."

"Those are good, but—and not that I advocate this in general—in an emergency situation where you need to defend yourself, knee the guy in the balls and run the fuck away."

She nodded slowly.

He lunged at her without giving her any warning, and she squeaked and threw herself to the side, before sprinting to the other side of the gym.

"Good," he said, "Now, let's do that again. Don't let me catch you."

Forty-five minutes later, Caroline was tired. Suicide sprints had nothing on playing a twisted form of tag with someone that made you do pushups every time he caught you.

"Good, grab water. After you're done with that you need to shower and meet me at The Caves exit near the park. We're going to the shooting range near the side of town. What do you know about guns?"

Caroline's mouth twitched. "I'm a fast learner."

**XXX**

An hour later, she was getting herself settled in front of a target in the fields outside town. She had just sat through a fifteen minute lecture on gun safety, and she was prepared to look like a prodigy.

The fact that she was the daughter of a sheriff mother and a father who had been obsessed with hunting had nothing to do with it. Really.

* * *

_**March, 2006**_

"_Good, Carebear. Hold it just like that. Once I put the earmuffs on you, take a deep breath. No rush." Her dad said from behind her. _

_She stood, feet shoulder-width apart and aimed the gun at the target in front of her. Her father snapped the headset over her ears to protect them and then backed away to let her try to shoot. _

_The backlash was more intense than she was expecting, even after her father's warning, but she got the hang of it quickly, at least the shooting part. The aiming, not so much._

_Looking back on the whole thing, she must have looked very silly. A fourteen-year-old girl with her hands wrapped around a pistol, blonde curls tied back with a checkered headband._

_Her father took her to the field to practice every week from then on, and by the time she was seventeen she was almost a perfect shot. Her mother would occasionally come to practice with her. Nothing much happened in their tiny North Carolina town, but her mother always said that it was good to be prepared. Caroline would laugh and tell her mother that their town was too small to have any real problems._

_She had been naïve and optimistic, her false sense of security wrapped around her like a cocoon, and two hours before her last final exam for her first year of college, her cocoon was shattered, and not in a good way._

_April, one of her best friends who was already out of college for the summer, had called her and told her that she needed to come home, and that there had been an emergency. Since April's version of "emergencies" tended to be break-ups with boyfriends or coffee-covered sundresses, she told April that it would have to wait until she was done with her exam, and hung up before April could explain._

_She packed her things and drove home that night, and when she arrived to the street of her childhood home, and found the whole block covered in charred remains. She walked to her house—what was left of it—and stood outside the property, tears streaming down her face. The policewoman that had come was one of her mother's best friends from work, and struggled to explain the situation to Caroline through her own tears. _

_Her neighbor's idiot son left the stove on at two in the morning, and the result was half the block dead or homeless. Though a gun wouldn't exactly have helped her parents survive, the event completely shattered her belief that nothing bad could happen. _

_She had called Stefan, and he had rushed to help her. _

_At the time, she was in shock, and didn't quite know what to do. However, Caroline was nothing if not resilient, and while she knew the reality of everything would hit her eventually, she would deal with her grief the best way she could: By obsessively planning the rest of her life._

_She had some money saved up, but she knew that she couldn't afford an apartment in the area near Whitmore, or the tuition without supplemental income. The only other things she had were her car and the things she packed for school. _

_When Stefan offered her a job, she had jumped at the chance. She needed money, and she needed the safety of her childhood friend. _

* * *

**May 31****st****, 2012**

She took a deep breath, aimed, and fired. She hit her mark, and she wished she had a camera to take a picture of Alaric's slack-jawed face.

He seemed to gather himself together for a few seconds before turning to her. "Well, clearly you don't need any help with the firearms stuff. I'll see you once a week to make sure you get caught up on the hand-to-hand combat, and you should keep coming here to practice, but I'll let Sage know that you'll probably start next week. Luckily for you, she's not a morning person, so you'll probably end up going in there around noon. She'll call you."

"Okay," Caroline said brightly. She liked Alaric, and he was an excellent teacher, but she couldn't feel sad that she had to see him less, because waking up at an ungodly hour was torture.

"Why don't you head back and take a shower, and you can meet Damon."

She groaned.

**XXX**

Katerina Petrova was not a people person. She was self-aware enough to recognize that she did not play well with others, and she had no intention of changing that facet of her personality at this point in her life. Or ever.

She hummed to herself as she flipped through her closet trying to decide what to wear for the day, while considering her new living situation. This Caroline girl was Stefan's friend, meaning that she would be around for the foreseeable future, and she liked Stefan well enough that she didn't want to deal with fucking up their relationship by holding some stupid grudge against this girl.

That said, the bitch needed to take up less bathroom space.

She selected her outfit for the day and laid it out on her bed, and then tightened the belt of her fluffy blue bathrobe and started the shower. The hot water was heaven against her tired body, and she started to lather some shampoo into her hair.

She had only been gone for about a week and a half, but she was happy to be back. Her mission had been to kill a high-profile drug cartel leader, and she had found through trial and error that the best way to do those kinds of jobs was to screw him. Or, at least, get to the part where you're straddling him and then shove the knife you were hiding in your push-up bra into his neck.

She finished up her shower routine and turned off the water, squeezing the excess out of her hair before starting to towel dry it. Wiping the steam off the mirror with one hand, she secured her robe around her and plugged in her hair dryer.

She had missed Elijah. He had been too busy to see her off because he had been meeting with a potential client, and she wanted nothing more than to walk down to the house he shared with Kol and Matt to see him.

But he was probably with a client, it was that time of day, and since they were expecting her flight to come in late tonight he probably wouldn't have even made an effort to clear his schedule.

She sighed to herself, running her fingers through her hair as she dried it, thinking that being efficient had its drawbacks. She had finished the mission earlier than had been expected, and since it generally isn't a good idea to stick around after killing someone, she and her handler had gotten on the first flight back.

Elijah was important to the agency. Unlike her he _was_ a people person, and he was the best at securing business with clients. He had also been Tatia's lover. She wished that it didn't matter to her, but the truth was that she had always felt a little inferior to Tatia. Elijah always told Katerina that he had never loved Tatia the way he loved her, but it didn't stop her from wondering occasionally.

It also didn't help that Elena often assisted Elijah in securing deals with clients. Her sister was naturally social. She was bright and cheerful, and had a way of putting people at ease. In fact, when she wasn't playing nurse at the medical center or buttering up clients before they saw Elijah, she often accompanied Katerina to give her an "in" with targets on missions that required more than sex appeal and good aim with a knife.

She loved Elijah, but she was young, and she never understood why he chose her. He was dignified and polite, never seen out of a suit in public and always the gentleman. She was Tatia without the graceful walk and the bashful smile. Katerina was loud, crass and spoiled. She smiled to herself as she painted on her liquid eyeliner. She knew for sure that she had at least one thing on Tatia, which was her confidence. And she would rather try to hug a hungry lion without a weapon than let her insecurities get in the way of what she wanted.

She walked down the hall to her bedroom, opened the door, and squeaked loudly in surprise.

"Elijah, you scared me."

He turned around from the window he had been looking out of, his hands clasped behind his back. He had the soft smile on his face that always made her forget her anxieties.

"I apologize Katerina, that was not my intent."

"Clearly."

He strode towards her and picked up her hand in his. "How did the mission go?"

"Typical screw-n-skewer. Not terrible."

She had come up with the colloquialism after the first few missions of its kind. Elijah had not been impressed, and the rather undignified grimace on his face right now was the only reason she still used the phrase.

He dropped her hand to rest his palms on her hips, and her arms found their way around his neck the second he captured her lips with his. Their kisses were always electric, and this was no exception. He nibbled her bottom lip and she allowed his tongue entrance, as his fingertips tightened their hold on her, pulling her flush against him. He released her mouth and peppered kisses along her jaw towards her ear. "I do hope you will allow me to linger awhile more. I do not have another meeting until this evening, and I have missed you."

"Of course." She said, a bit breathlessly.

She could almost feel the victorious smile pulling at his lips that she knew he had as he nibbled on her ear. She began to loosen his tie and moaned softly as he found a particularly sensitive spot on her neck.

She decided that he would look much better with his suit on her carpet instead of on him, and she intended to correct the situation as soon as possible.

**XXX**

Damon was waiting for her in front of the shed door, and she would have liked nothing better than to punch the smirk off of his stupidly attractive face. She hadn't seen him in years, but he was clearly still a jerk.

"Blondie," he said, nodding.

"Damon."

He started walking without any further conversation, and she followed him to a plain looking one-story house with a green-shingled roof and an open garage. Damon took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. "We're going to talk about what you're expected to do while I train you. This isn't kiddie stuff, Blondie. You're going to be shadowing me for the first few weeks, meaning that I'll go through the regular motions of what I do and you will observe and ask any questions. After that, you will do my work for me with my supervision."

She followed him into the front room of the house, which was occupied by a threadbare rug and cushy mismatched armchairs. He motioned for her to take a seat, and then left the room. She remained standing, and walked to admire the painting on the wall next to the front door.

"Damon?" A voice called from a neighboring room.

Katerina walked into the room, wearing a soft beige sweater, loose-fitting jeans and low-heeled brown boots. The other girl smiled brightly and walked over to greet her.

"Hi, you must be the famous Caroline I've heard so much about from Stefan. I'm Elena." The girl said, skipping the handshake and hugging Caroline.

That explained the clothes, smile, and lack of eyeliner.

Caroline awkwardly hugged back, and Elena pulled away.

"You're living with Kat, right? I'm so sorry." Elena burst into giggles, and her laugh was infectious, causing Caroline to giggle too. "Just give her some time," Elena continued, "she's not really a people person. But once you get to know her I'm sure you'll love her."

"I hope so," Caroline said.

Footsteps approached from the hallway and Elena waited until Damon was close before stage whispering, "And Kat hates Damon, so just complain about him and she'll love you."

Right then, Caroline decided that she very much liked Elena.

"Cute, Elena." Damon said, coming up behind her and dropping a kiss on her head. He dropped the file he was holding onto the coffee table. "I'm going to let you look through this for a few minutes. This is the brief for our next assignment, which starts tomorrow. I'd love to say I'm sorry that we're throwing you in the lion's den this early, but I'm not. I'll walk you through what needs to happen for planning."

"I'll leave you guys alone. Bonnie needs some help at the clinic. It was great to meet you Caroline." Elena walked over and dropped a quick kiss on Damon's lips, "I'll be back for dinner."

Once the front door shut behind Elena, Caroline raised an eyebrow at Damon.

"How did you manage to get her to fall in love with _you_?"

"My natural charm and good looks." Damon said, with a cheeky smile.

"As if."

"Well, she was certainly an upgrade."

"Excuse me?"

"There was this girl I had a summer fling with a few years ago. She was kinda psycho. Really bossy. Anyway, I met Elena after that and I was happy because she was everything that girl wasn't."

_Yep. Still a jerk._

Caroline hmm'd and opened the folder. There were two sheets of paper covered with writing, and the rest were a few pictures of a young man—late teens or early 20s if she had to guess—with cropped brown hair and a serious face, and the rest were photos of different pieces of beautiful jewelry.

"This is Noah. Our—well, Stefan and Klaus'—assignment is to retrieve a cache of stolen jewelry from his apartment. He's apparently holding it to give it to a black market auctioneer, and if it gets there we'll probably lose track of it. Our client wants a specific piece," Damon flipped through the photos, and held up one of a necklace with a sapphire pendant, "and we have until Sunday, so three days, but I doubt we'll be there any longer than one. With me so far?"

"Yeah."

"Good. This guy—Noah—his apartment is in Wisconsin. It's in a decent-sized town, but not big enough to really have an established criminal underground. So, I'm going to walk you through what I'd do to prepare for the mission. We're leaving tomorrow morning, so I'd have to arrange a flight…"

After three hours of straight planning, Damon had successfully secured a flight, made sure that they had somewhere to stay, found a car, emergency contacts, and about a hundred other things that Caroline had to keep track of.

"Be ready to head to the airport tomorrow at seven, we're meeting at Stefan's place. I'm sure if you call him tonight he'll give you directions. Once we get there I'm going to walk you through the second part of the job, which is staying near the location to direct the mission and help out in case something goes wrong."

She groaned. Of course, as soon as Alaric let her off early morning stuff she would be stuck on a five-hour plane ride.

"Oh stop whining, Blondie. Early mornings never killed anyone."

"I beg to differ." Caroline muttered under her breath.

He stood up and she followed suit, and he walked her to the front door, pulling it open for her to let her out. She walked out to the porch stairs and called a goodbye over her shoulder.

"Wait, Caroline."

She turned around to look at Damon, who was still standing in the doorway. He shifted from foot to foot looking uncharacteristically uncomfortable. "Listen, Caroline, I'm sorry about your parents."

"Thanks," Caroline said awkwardly. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, later Blondie." Damon said, instantly reverting to his arrogant self.

She rolled her eyes and headed back to her house.

* * *

**June 1, 2012**

Klaus Mikaelson was many things, but generally "patient" was not one of them. Elijah often used the phrase "selective patience." Klaus could wait for years for something he dearly wanted if needed. However, he had no such plans to wait that long for Damon Salvatore to be replaced as his handler. Luckily, he was told that the next handler was in training, but he was tired of waiting.

He had his sturdy black suitcase open on his bed, and was neatly folding his clothes to put in it. He, Stefan, Damon, and the new handler were leaving to fly to Wisconsin in less than an hour for the most trivial mission he'd done since he was twelve, and he had barely started packing. He got caught up in a painting that he had been working on, and he couldn't tear himself away.

He worked mechanically, packing clothes, toiletries, weapons, and other necessities into the suitcase perfectly, his mind somewhere else entirely. Stefan had seemed far too happy the past few days. The new handler was supposedly his childhood friend. It didn't particularly matter however, as long as the new guy did his job.

He threw his sketchbook and a couple of pencils on top and shut his suitcase, before carrying it downstairs to the waiting SUV they were putting their luggage in.

It was supposed to be a three-day trip at most, but if he had anything to say about it they'd be back by midnight, so they weren't checking any bags. He dropped his suitcase into the trunk next to…a blindingly pink bag? Perhaps Damon was borrowing Elena's luggage now.

He turned around to find a young girl, probably around Stefan's age, her blonde curls damp from a recent shower, clutching a thermos. She yawned, covering her mouth with her forearm and he noticed the way her breasts stretched the fabric of her shirt.

"Oh. Hi. You must be Klaus. I'm Caroline. I'm training to be your new handler." Her voice was tired, but cheerful. She smiled at him brightly and stuck out her hand for him to shake, which he did.

She was not a male handler.

He let his eyes wander her body, not even attempting to be subtle.

Yes. _Definitely _not a male handler.

"Lovely to meet you Caroline."

"Excuse me," she said, before dodging around him smoothly to bend over and open her bag, clearly searching for something inside it and giving him an excellent view of her arse.

He had never had a female handler before, though there were many in the agency. Hopefully the girl was competent, but even if she wasn't it wouldn't exactly be a hardship to have to see her in those jeans every day, especially if all of the pairs she owned were that tight.

He realized that she was about to stand up, and backed up a few paces to give her room. She flashed him what he recognized as a forced smile, she seemed to have noticed his stare, and walked around the side of the car. He closed the trunk behind her and strode towards the passenger seat. She was climbing into the car when he passed, and he decided to hope that she was incompetent, because it would be incredibly unprofessional to bed your handler.

Although to be honest, even if she was good at her job he didn't much think that a silly detail like professionalism would prevent him from having the girl.

**XXX**

"Welcome to General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is currently 12:34 PM local time. Please make sure you have all your belongings, and wait until the captain turns off the fasten-seat-belt sign before you exit the plane. Thank you for flying American Airlines."

There was a general rush of movement to exit the plane, and Stefan grabbed Caroline's wrist to make sure she stayed with them. He led her off the plane and through the airport, following after Damon with Klaus trailing behind them, and were led to the rental car Damon had acquired for them.

"Get in the passenger seat after you put your bags in, Caroline." Damon ordered.

After he started the car and they were on their way, Damon started talking. "One of your responsibilities is basically to be a glorified chauffeur. Always choose a non-descript car, and try not to pick the same make and model twice within a few missions of each other."

"Okay."

"We can't use GPS technology, so you need to make sure you have directions to anywhere you'd need to go completely memorized," Damon said as he turned onto the highway.

The drive to the hotel continued much the same way, with Damon giving her miscellaneous pieces of instruction or advice as he drove, and Stefan and Klaus silently staring out the windows.

They arrived at the hotel, and Caroline observed how unexceptional it looked. It wasn't fancy, but it wasn't a skeezy motel either. Damon motioned for them to wait near the entrance as he went to talk to the receptionist. He came back with two key cards and led them to two doors right next to each other.

"These rooms are connected. They both have two beds, but we probably won't even be here long enough to use them. Caroline, come with me and I'll show you how to pack a bag for when you're sitting in the car outside the location waiting for them."

"Okay."

He laid his suitcase on one of the beds and opened it. He retrieved a first aid kit, a laptop, and…a bag of buttons? "This is the basic stuff. I know you haven't seen Sage yet, so hopefully these guys won't get into any physical danger. It's a very low-risk mission, so I doubt anything will go wrong. Do you know what these are?"

"Umm, jacket buttons?"

"Nope. These are microphones. They connect to this laptop. I know in spy movies you see a ton of cool-looking stuff, but these are the easiest thing to use. They're inconspicuous and they have room for tiny cameras in them too."

"So I just sew them on?"

"Yeah, like you would a normal button."

"But how will they hear what we say?"

"We're wired," Stefan assured her from across the room, as he tied his running shoes.

Klaus walked over and silently grabbed the bag from Damon's hand and fished out a button to match his coat and a tiny earpiece. He hadn't spoken since that morning, and Caroline found it a bit disconcerting. She had already mentally pinned the label "sleezeball" on him that morning, and she did not appreciate his ogling. The sad part was that he was incredibly attractive, and if he had been polite and more subtle she might actually have considered sleeping with him.

Pity that.

"Let's head out to the car. Noah Whatshisface should have work right now, so we should be able to get in no problem."

"That seems a little too easy." Caroline said.

"Well, most of the missions we go on are to kill targets that have a lot of security. However, every now and then the agents that are lower on the proverbial food chain get a mission where they're dealing with someone that has no idea what they're doing. Even though those missions will seem suspiciously easy, it's really because in actuality the guy is just inexperienced," Stefan said. "This was supposed to be a low-risk mission for your first one."

"Usually Stefan and I would not be assigned something so trivial, we are very good at what we do, but I suppose Silas wanted to give you an easy introduction." Klaus said.

"Arrogant, much?" Caroline said, scoffing.

"No, actually I'm being quite modest."

His gaze was intense, and he had a grin on his face that looked more predatory than anything else. She immediately felt more than a bit uncomfortable from his stare, and turned away.

"Put on some comfortable clothes that aren't sweatpants." Damon said, breaking the tension.

"Damon, I don't think I've ever left my house in sweatpants."

"Fair enough."

Caroline picked out her clothes and shut herself in the bathroom to change. When she came out, Klaus was shirtless and she did her best to not look at him, instead opting for putting on her shoes and packing up her own bag. Though she had succeeded in not staring at his bare chest, she could still feel his eyes on her, and it was starting to irritate her (although, frankly his behavior had already gotten past the "starting to be irritating" end of the spectrum and was swiftly on its way to the "making her furious" end of it).

They got in the car, and Damon drove them to a parking lot that was near the guy's apartment. Klaus and Stefan got out of the car and walked to the front door of the apartment building, and Damon opened the laptop and opened a program that opened to two boxes on the screen, each showing the front door of the apartment building.

"Can you hear me Stefan? Klaus?"

"Yeah."

"Yes."

"Okay. Caroline and I will just keep an eye out while you guys do your thing."

Caroline watched Damon tab out of whatever program he was using and opened another one that he used to disable the security cameras in the apartment building, walking her through the whole process as he did it. "Using this program should do the trick for any security cameras for things like apartment buildings and small businesses. They can disable the cheap ones without too much trouble. When you're doing a higher-risk mission, which I'm sure we'll end up doing a week or two after we get back, you'll need to be in contact with one of the computer guys back in Mystic Falls. Sometimes if the place has really impressive security stuff we'll take someone with us, usually Donovan."

"Donovan?"

"Yeah. Matt Donovan. He's one of our best nerds."

"Rude."

"Hey, if the shoe fits…"

"Whatever."

Stefan's voice crackled through the laptop speakers, "Feel free to stop bickering and tell us when it's safe to go up the stairs anytime."

"Now's fine." Damon replied.

He tabbed back to the side-by-side video displays, which showed a first-person view of the apartment complex as Stefan and Klaus went up the stairs. "This is Klaus," Damon said, pointing at the left side, "And this one is Stefan. They just need to search the apartment for the jewelry and we should be done."

Caroline watched Klaus' side of the monitor go through a door labeled "Office" and efficiently search the drawers until he found what must have been the master key. He joined Stefan on the apartment landing and they walked into the apartment, both with their hands on their hidden weapons.

"Looks clear." Stefan said unnecessarily.

"Go look in the bedroom and the bathroom, I'll take the living room and kitchen." Klaus ordered.

She watched Stefan's camera travel through the hallway to the bedroom, and he methodically searched what Caroline thought were the obvious places, under the mattress and bed frame and the closet shelf.

"When they just have to grab something and go they usually start with the easy places and move on to the more complicated ones later. You'd be surprised how many bags of crack we've found in people's pillowcases."

"Damon, if you don't mind I would appreciate it if you would stop speaking. I need to listen for hollow floorboards and you are making the task more difficult than it should be." Klaus said irritably.

Damon rolled his eyes and unnecessarily gestured for Caroline to be quiet.

Stefan was going through a drawer and pulled out a box from under a pile of t-shirts. "I think I found it." He said, opening the box.

Sure enough, a few ancient-looking necklaces, an intricately designed brooch, and a delicate ring were set together in the box's cushy velvet lining. Stefan put the container on the bed, and began moving the room back to the way he had found it, refolding all the clothes and putting them back in the drawer. Klaus was doing the same in the kitchen.

After pocketing the box and locking up the apartment, Damon started the car to drive to the apartment. By the time they got there, Klaus and Stefan were waiting out front. "Blondie, do you think you can switch the security cameras back online?"

"Yeah, sure."

After she had successfully re-started the security system, she leaned back in her chair. Her first mission, though minor and incredibly boring, had been a success.

* * *

**A/N: Again, the visuals for Caroline's outfits and all that are a collection on my Polyvore account, the link to which can be found in my profile.  
The only way a writer gets better is by reviews, so please tell me how I'm doing :D  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	3. First Distraction

****A/N: There's a bit of a time jump here because the details of training would take a lot of time (plus, spoiler, there's a lot more further on in the story). I should probably say now that there are additional pairings besides Klaroline. For those of you who are curious, the pairings are as follows: Stebekah, Kalijah, Kennett, Delena, Jeremy/Tyler, and a few minor pairings. This story IS Klaroline-centric, but Stebekah, Kalijah, and Kennett will have minor story arcs. Yes, there will be smut in this (but it'll be awhile). I know that some people are sensitive to the topic, so I'd like to state now that there will be no explicit sex scenes between Jeremy and Tyler (though for those that are interested, I might write one as an outtake if there's enough interest).  
Also, this story is NOT Cuddly!Klaus. Klaus is obsessive, manipulative, and slightly dark.****

****Enjoy!  
-Angie****

* * *

**October 10****th****, 2012**

It had been five months since Caroline had arrived in Mystic Falls, and she was slowly getting used to the routine. After her first mission, which she now knew was the type that any agent over the age of fourteen could do in their sleep, she had slowly started to be included in progressively more dangerous and complicated tasks. That didn't mean that she was completely comfortable with the whole thing—and she didn't know if she ever would be—but she had given herself time to reflect on her new life.

It helped that the targets Klaus and Stefan were assigned were the most dangerous, and in general the most dangerous missions were those targeting leaders of drug cartels, assassins from other agencies, or other not-so-honorable individuals.

She also had continued seeing Alaric once a week. She could definitely hold her own in a fight with no weapons, but only just. Alaric had half-joked to her once that she should just carry around a stun gun in her purse. He had done his best to emphasize to her that her job didn't even involve combat, and she only needed to be able to escape or hold out long enough for help to arrive. She loathed the idea of being a damsel in distress, and she resolved to practice on her own.

She had met Sage, the head of the medical center, the day after she got back from her first mission. Sage immediately asked Caroline to tell her everything she knew about medicine. Sage was clearly unsatisfied with her knowledge, and told her very bluntly that she wouldn't finish in six months. Usually, paramedic training took a year, and she needed to know a few additional things that generally weren't taught to paramedics. Sage was convinced that Caroline wouldn't be able to finish in less than a year. The first words out of Caroline's mouth after Sage said that were "Challenge accepted."

She thought she saw a hint of a smile on Sage's face.

She still wasn't finished with her medical training, but she was closer than Sage thought she would be by this time. Like Alaric, Sage had done her best to instill in Caroline the idea that she didn't need to be trained as a medical professional.

"You can't be Superwoman." She once said as she showed Caroline how to properly dress a gunshot wound with the materials the handlers carried around in the trunks of the cars.

The mid-October air was chilling, and as Caroline walked home from the clinic, she amused herself by stepping on the crispy leaves littering the sidewalk. The cold air blowing across her face pinked her cheeks as she walked back to the house, and she almost felt like skipping. She had two more weeks until she would have her last day shadowing Damon, and then he would be moved to a different team.

She hadn't actually believed Silas when he told her that she would be taking Damon's place. Stefan and Klaus were one of the best teams, and she had practically no experience. She once asked Stefan why, and it turned out Damon was their tenth handler. In fact, Damon was a rather competent assassin, and only became a handler because they were running out of handlers that could stand working with Klaus.

It was soon clear to her that not only did Klaus strongly dislike Damon (and pretty much every other person he met), but that almost everyone strongly disliked Klaus. Klaus was unpleasant to work with. He enjoyed threatening people when he didn't get his way (and she had learned that he didn't usually do 'empty threats' after a particularly mouthy target had his nose broken last month). He was rude, impulsive, and controlling, and refused to believe that any plan other than his own was valid.

However, he seemed to have taken a bizarre liking, if "liking" meant "not being a colossal asshole in order to get in someone's pants," to Caroline after the first mission where she was the handler and Damon was merely observing, which both made Caroline's training easier and also annoyed Damon to no end.

Liking her did not translate to politeness or respect in any form, however.

* * *

_**June 29**__**th**__**, 2012**_

_Caroline bent over the laptop, trying to ignore Damon hovering over her shoulder. "Klaus," she spoke into her microphone, "Marcel disabled the security cameras and they're in my control. You should be clear to go into the house. Stefan, can you see what you can find around the back?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Klaus, I need you to find the guy's bedroom."_

"_Of course, sweetheart." _

"_Don't call me that," Caroline snapped._

_Damon and Stefan snorted simultaneously, and she shot Damon a pointed glare._

"_Why not?" Klaus asked, pushing the confrontation a little farther. She could almost hear the smile in his voice._

"_Because I don't like it. And be quiet, someone could see you any time and you don't want to draw attention to yourself."_

"_Bossy…"_

"_I found the back entrance. I'm going to see if I can find the key to the shed in here." Stefan said, effectively interrupting the burgeoning argument._

"_Okay. Sounds good."_

_There was silence for a few minutes, and Caroline busied herself checking through the security cameras. On missions like this, it was easier to take over the cameras and then erase the footage later so that you could keep track of the whole place._

_She stopped skipping around when she saw the target—a deceptively harmless-looking older man who had stolen a large amount of money and valuable items from their client—sitting at his computer with his pants around his ankles jerking off to porn._

"_Eughh!"_

"_What?"_

"_He's not in his bedroom. He's on the third floor in a room with a computer, and I think my eyes are permanently burnt." Caroline said._

"_I've got it." Klaus said, quietly making his way up the stairs._

_Caroline watched both the security camera's perspective and Klaus's as the door to the study was opened, and Klaus crept quietly behind the man. Klaus grabbed the other man, quickly turned him around, and shoved his gun into he man's face. There was a gunshot, and then the man was lying in a pool of his own blood and brain matter. Caroline wrinkled her nose and fought down her nausea at the sight of it. She still hadn't quite gotten used to that. A part of her hoped that she never would._

"_Alright, get out of the house while I delete this footage and fill it with stills. Stefan, did you get the boxes?" Caroline asked._

"_Yeah, we're good to go."_

_Ten minutes later the footage was erased, the boxes of stolen goods were secure in the trunk, and Klaus and Stefan were buckling up in the van. _

"_That went well." Stefan said, patting Caroline on the shoulder as she drove._

"_Thanks." She replied, grinning at him._

"_Yeah, it definitely went well for Blondie. She certainly got an eyeful."_

_Caroline wrinkled her nose. "Shut up, Damon. It was disgusting."_

_They spent the rest of the half-hour drive back to the hotel with Stefan and Damon teasing Caroline—only they knew the right buttons to push, after all—and Caroline responding with (mostly) fake indignation. As they clambered out of the car, Damon volunteered to drive it to the parking lot so that they could all get their suitcases and go back to the airport._

_Stefan and Klaus fell into step beside Caroline. _

"_Well Caroline, I'd apologize for the man offending your delicate sensibilities, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. However, I'd be happy to assist you if you wish to forget what you saw and replace it with something more pleasurable." Klaus said._

_Caroline and Stefan turned to face him with gaping mouths, Caroline in horror, and Stefan at Klaus' nerve._

_Caroline's palm hit Klaus' cheek with a resounding crack._

"_Ouch—Caroline!"_

"_How _dare _you?"_

"_How dare _I_? You hit me!"_

"_You deserved it."_

"_You realize I know forty-three ways to kill you right now without anyone noticing?"_

"_I really couldn't give any less fucks at the moment."_

"_What is your problem?"_

"_My problem? What's _my _problem? You're the one hitting on me every five seconds."_

"_Most woman would pay to have me hit on them."_

_Stefan's head was bobbing back and forth between them as though he was watching an extremely intense ping-pong match. _

"_Well, I'm not most women, and you are disgusting."_

"_Caroline, you're beautiful but if you don't stop talking I will kill you."_

"_Klaus, you're passably aesthetically pleasing, but if you ever say something like that again to me, I will hurt you." Caroline mocked him._

"_I'd love to see you try. You realize that I'm the most dangerous man in the world."_

"_Well, since I'm already responsible for that incredibly attractive handprint on your face, I would say I've already done so."_

_Stefan stepped forward, deciding it was time to intervene, but Damon had just arrived behind him and shushed him before he could get involved._

"_That is nothing. I would be happy to show you the true meaning of pain."_

_Caroline planted her hands on her hips defiantly. "Well, let's see it then."_

_They stared each other down for a good ten seconds, neither of them moving a muscle. Then suddenly Klaus shoved past her, storming through the automatic hotel doors._

"_That escalated quickly." Stefan muttered._

"_Blondie's got nerve." Damon responded._

"_I can hear you, you know." Caroline said, twirling around to face them._

"_Care, that was really dangerous."_

"_Well, nothing happened, and I refuse to take his bullshit. I'm surprised he's never gotten a handprint on his face before. Ugh. What a pig."_

* * *

**October 10****th****, 2012**

After that altercation, Klaus didn't usually overtly hit on her. He still made some suggestive comments, but they weren't nearly as lewd as they had been before. She often still felt his stares burning on her skin. She rarely caught him doing it, though. He would still touch her occasionally, but she had made it clear over the next few months that she wanted nothing to do with him.

When she did catch him looking, the times he didn't look away from her immediately, his gaze wasn't suggestive. It was intense and calculating.

He didn't really give her any special treatment, he was still far more pleasant to Stefan than to her, but he did listen when she communicated when they were on a mission, even if he didn't always do what she said (and if he wasn't following directions he would always tell her why he wasn't).

Other people did notice his attitude towards her, however. Stefan sometimes teased her about it when they were alone, giving her dramatic interpretations of the "expressions of longing" that Klaus directed at her when she wasn't looking. Damon once asked her if she ever planned on wearing tighter pants, because that would have the risk of reducing productivity. He walked away with a black eye and a bruised ego. After that, his comments were much more subtle, employing the talent for insults through compliments that every southern person seamed to have.

However, their teasing was nothing against the merciless (mostly friendly) mocking of her and Klaus by Katerina Petrova.

Elena had been spot-on. The way to Katerina's heart was through the injury of Damon Salvatore.

* * *

_**July 1**__**st**__**, 2012**_

_Caroline was humming to herself as she unlocked the front door of her home. She had an extra spring in her step and she hoped Katerina wasn't home to ruin her good mood. She discarded her keys and her sweater, and walked to the kitchen to pour herself some juice._

"_What's got you so chipper?" _

_As if summoned by magic, Katerina stood in the kitchen rummaging through the cabinets ready to ruin her day._

"_I punched Damon in the face."_

_Katerina's eyebrows shot up. "Wow. I've wanted to do that for years. How exactly are you still alive?"_

"_If there's one good thing about Klaus' random obsession with me, it's that Damon is afraid of hurting me due to his fear of Elena finding him in a pool of his own blood."_

_The fact that Klaus hated Damon regardless of any connection to Caroline helped too._

"_Klaus is obsessed with _you_? No offense, but I find that a little hard to believe."_

"_Ask Stefan about it. It's really annoying actually. Damon told me I should never wear tight pants again because Klaus wouldn't be able to function, so I punched him in the face. He was furious, but Klaus kind of gave him this really scary warning look—"_

"_The one where he looks like a serial killer and makes you worried for all of humanity?"_

"_Uhh, yeah, that one. Anyway, Damon backed off. But then Klaus just kind of smirked at me and walked away."_

"_Well, I'm impressed. Will I get a call from my sister about the state of Damon's face?"_

"_Is it wrong of me to hope you will?"_

_Katerina laughed, a true one, not a cackle. "No. Not at all. You've got nerve, Caroline."_

"_So I've been told."_

"_I was about to make some pasta. There will be leftovers, if you want some."_

"_Sure." Caroline had to stop herself from smiling. If she had known that punching Damon Salvatore would cause roomie bonding she would have done it earlier._

"_Don't think this means we'll watch girly movies and paint our toenails together anytime soon."_

"_Obviously."_

_And despite Katerina's insistence that there would be no bonding, a friendship was born._

* * *

**October 10****th****, 2012**

Caroline climbed up the steps to the tiny house she shared with Katerina and wiped her feet on the welcome mat, before unlocking the door and heading inside. Dropping her keys in the bowl by the door, she walked through the archway to the living room, where she found her small circle of friends, and a few people she didn't know or had only met in passing, gathered around the coffee table which was piled with presents.

Caroline hated surprises, and made sure everyone knew this whenever it was convenient to emphasize such a personality trait, such as when they had a last minute mission, when Alaric had something to do and so she woke up at an ungodly hour for nothing, or when Katerina drank all the orange juice and didn't say anything.

Needless to say, Stefan had been hinting (meaning using the word surprise wherever he could and always with a huge amount of unnecessary emphasis) at the surprise-party-to-be for the last two weeks.

There were a few half-hearted shouts of "Surprise!" but everyone knew (or presumably had been warned) by then how pointless it was.

Still, Caroline did her best to at least _act _surprised (she was very good at the Taylor Swift Awards Show smile, after all), and it didn't matter in the end anyway because there was no way she ever could have faked the one stretching across her face.

Elena went in for the first hug (as usual) and Caroline returned it, giggling.

Katerina grabbed Caroline's hand and dragged her over to a tall man in a suit. "Stefan and I realized that you've barely met anyone here, so we invited a few friends."

Katerina was practically vibrating with energy, and Elijah shook Caroline's hand firmly. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Caroline."

"Thanks Elijah. It's nice to see you too."

Before he could give any more than a tight smile there was a tap on her shoulder, and Stefan pulled her away, telling Katerina that he would introduce Caroline to the rest of the group.

Stefan led her to the make-shift buffet table where Klaus and a boy—_cute _boy—she didn't know were talking. He grabbed her hand and bent to kiss it, a mischievous smile on his face. "Kol Mikaelson at your _service_. Are you the birthday girl?"

Caroline resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the blatant innuendo.

Klaus on the other hand made no effort to restrain his eyeroll.

"How many of you people are there?"

_And are all of you this overtly sexually frustrated?_

"If you are referring to my siblings, then including myself there are five of us. Finn, Elijah, Kol, Kol's twin Rebekah, and me."

"You have a sister?"

Kol jumped in before Klaus could answer. "Yes. Quite a pain in the arse that one. So, _are_ you the birthday girl, darling?"

"Yeah, I am."

"How old are you today, sweet Caroline?"

This time she gave in and shot a shamelessly grinning Stefan an exasperated look. Klaus was glaring at the back of Kol's head as though willing it to explode.

"Let her be, Kol."

A girl came up behind Kol and smacked him on the shoulder, and then stuck her hand out to Caroline. "Sorry about him, he's an idiot. I'm Bonnie."

"Now darling, let's not start name-calling."

Bonnie made a shooing motion with her hand at him and then turned to Caroline, engaging her in a conversation about the medical center. It turned out that Bonnie was some sort of chemistry genius. She and her great aunt Ayana had spent the last decade working on a serum that could be injected to accelerate the healing of serious injuries. As Bonnie spoke enthusiastically, Caroline half-watched Kol over the other girl's shoulder. Caroline realized in that moment that while Kol was flirting with her, his attention was definitely elsewhere. He looked at Bonnie with the sort of longing that you see in tragic romances, the affectionately bitter gaze of a man who thought he would never be good enough.

Eventually, Stefan reminded her that there were more people to meet, and introduced her to a blonde who Caroline had noticed had been observing the two of them on-and-off.

"Caroline, this is Rebekah. Rebekah, this is Caroline, my best friend from elementary school."

"It's so nice to meet you," Rebekah said enthusiastically, "I've heard so much about you from Stefan."

They chatted about television, which somehow morphed into a heated debate involving a hypothetical fight between Alaric and the Sue Sylvester from Glee at which point Stefan excused himself.

"So, you and Stefan met in school? What was that like? I've never been to public school."

Caroline grinned and told Rebekah about their schooldays. Halfway through, she realized that Rebekah was giving her an assessing look that she recognized very well (as she used it herself many times). The other girl was sizing her up to see what her relationship to Stefan was.

Her name sounded familiar for some reason. Rebekah…Rebekah…Beks?

"Were you the girl that Stefan dated in high school who moved to Brazil?" Caroline blurted out.

Rebekah frowned. "Yes. I had a long-term mission to Brazil and it was no contact, so I didn't want to tie him down for the summer. He told you about me?"

Caroline remembered that summer very well. Stefan's heart wasn't in any of the things that they usually did. He ended up spilling his guts when they were out for coffee one day, and it was heartbreaking to watch Stefan lose it like that.

It had been obvious to Caroline that the girl had meant a lot to him, and they sounded like they had made an amazing couple.

"Yeah. He was really mopey."

Rebekah snorted. "Is he ever not mopey?"

Seeming to realize that she must have sounded callous, she backtracked quickly. "It was actually really awful. I missed him. But, by the time I got back he was in his hometown for awhile, and then he told me that he wanted to be friends."

Caroline grimaced. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"But you're right, he's pretty mopey." Caroline said, grinning.

Rebekah laughed quietly. "Sorry, I shouldn't be telling you this. We just met and I feel like I'm oversharing—"

"It's fine," Caroline assured her, "if it makes you feel better, I knew pretty much all of that anyway."

Rebekah grimaced. "Not really, but I guess it can't be helped."

Caroline smiled, and Rebekah haltingly smiled back.

They chatted for awhile longer, and then she blew out the candles on her cake and opened her presents.

She noticed Klaus standing in the corner alone on his phone. He was a guest, and she had to at least try to include him, she thought. She walked over, and he looked up at her before she got anywhere close to him. "Happy Birthday Caroline."

"Thanks."

He smiled. "I love birthdays."

"Do you?" she asked.

"Yes. How old are you now?" He was grinning like he already knew, and thinking about it, he probably did.

"I'm twenty today."

"Congratulations."

She let herself smile slightly. "Thank you."

He nodded, and picked up his phone again, but she spoke before he could. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-four."

She asked something she had been wondering since she heard his accent. "Where are you guys actually from? 'Cause you all have accents, but The Travelers is here, right?"

"Why do you think it's called "The Travelers," Caroline? We've had locations in twenty-seven different countries."

"Oh."

"Why are you so interested?"

Caroline shrugged. "I don't know. Just curious, I guess."

Sensing the incoming suggestive comment, she continued, "But it's not because I'm interested in you."

He smirked. "Of course."

She nodded at him and walked back to the coffee table, sinking down on the couch next to Stefan, and turning to talk to Katerina.

* * *

**October 11****th****, 2012**

Stefan sat in Silas's office with Caroline, Klaus, and Damon listening to Silas talk about their next mission. The client was a woman that hired them to kill her cheating husband.

He could see that Caroline looked nervous. Her leg was jiggling, and she seemed deep in thought. She spoke up next to him. "Isn't this like, a little amoral? He cheated on his wife, so get divorced or whatever. He doesn't deserve to die."

"We aren't paid to judge people, sweetheart. We're paid to kill them."

"But—"

"So, because tomorrow's benefit is the best opportunity to get him alone, you'll need to leave tonight." Silas said, talking over her. "I know this is short notice, so I've had the flights arranged myself. You should be able to get everything else settled. Your flight leaves Richmond at eight."

They got up and left the building, Caroline frowning to herself. Stefan pulled her aside. "Listen," he said, "I know you think that he doesn't deserve to die, but it's not our place to question it. Don't do anything rash. Don't try to save him. If you compromise the mission on purpose, you'll probably be killed. I don't want to lose you, Care."

"But if I let him die when I could have done something, then I basically killed him."

"No. The woman who hired us to kill him is really the one at fault. And my guess is that if we didn't take the job it might be messier. Klaus and I will make it quick."

She shrugged. "If you say so."

"Promise you won't try to stop the mission?" He asked, worried at her noncommittal answers.

"Yeah. Sure. I promise."

Stefan gave her a suspicious look, but dropped it. He didn't want Caroline to get in trouble. He was rather fond of his best friend, after all. But telling her not to do it would just make her more stubborn if she was set on doing it. He knew from experience that it would be better to just stop her in action if it ended up happening.

"Blondie. You need to go shopping."

"Excuse me?"

"You're going to the benefit."

"Why?"

"The target has cheated on his wife with many women over a long period of time. The best way to get him alone will be for you to lead him to us," Klaus said without looking up from his phone.

"Kat does these kinds of missions all the time, actually. You should ask her to help you find a dress."

"Stef, no offense to Kat or anything, but I don't think her clothes are really my style."

"Well they're going to be your style by tomorrow at seven-thirty. You have about six hours to get packed. I'm sure Tinkerbell will help whore you up."

"_Tinkerbell_?" Caroline asked incredulously, turning to Stefan, "Why is he calling Kat 'Tinkerbell'?"

Stefan grinned. "Vain, bratty, and uses sex appeal to her advantage in a fight. Who does that sound like?"

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Does Damon do the nickname thing here, too?"

Stefan chuckled. "Yeah. Damon's really the only one that uses them on a regular basis, but it's sort of an inside joke at this point. Whenever someone finishes training we do this hazing thing, and you get a nickname."

"Does that mean I get to have a name that's better than Blondie?"

"Could go either way." Stefan said, shrugging.

"What's yours, Stef?"

"Ripper," Klaus supplied.

"Why?"

Stefan grimaced. "During my training I got a little heavy handed with a knife and accidentally sliced Beks's shirt down the middle."

"How'd that go for you?"

"He had a handsome-looking shiner for the next week." Klaus said, smirking.

"Yeah. Kol was not impressed with me."

Caroline giggled, but was cut off by Damon, who Stefan could see was clearly getting impatient with all the waiting around.

"Blondie. Go. Now."

"I'm going, I'm going." Caroline assured him, giving Stefan a hug and turning to walk home.

Stefan turned to see Klaus' eyes fixed on Caroline's backside.

"She is radiant." Klaus mumbled to himself.

It was odd, Stefan thought, that Klaus was so fixated on Caroline. Stefan had seen Klaus flirt with women the way he did Caroline (although, he'd never seen Klaus back off the way he did after Caroline stood up to him), but he'd never stayed interested, even when they rejected him (though that didn't happen often). But, he had more important things to do than consider his partner's interest in his best friend. For one thing, if he said anything to Klaus he'd probably get an "accidental" injury. And for another, Klaus's interest wouldn't last because he didn't connect with people. Ever.

**XXX**

"Kat," Caroline screamed as she slammed the front door of their house closed, "I need help!"

Caroline reflected that she didn't know how Katerina could produce such loud footsteps from such a tiny body as the other girl practically thundered down the stairs. Katerina barreled into the room, tightening the belt of her robe, her hair tangled slightly. "What? Where's the fire? Is everything okay? You're not bleeding. What the _hell, _Caroline?"

"Damon told me to ask you for a dress. Apparently I'm supposed to be seducing our target."

"Well, you didn't have to be so dramatic about it, I thought you were dying." Katerina grumbled, running her fingers through her hair, attempting to smooth it out.

Caroline snorted at the concept of Katerina calling anyone else "dramatic," and turned to see Elijah walking down the stairs, dignified as ever, straightening the cuffs of his suit jacket.

He nodded at Caroline. "Caroline, pleasure to see you again."

Caroline felt a blush staining her cheeks as she realized exactly what she must have interrupted. She gave Katerina an apologetic look.

"I assume that this means you will be off on a mission tonight? Might I inquire for how long will you be away?"

"Umm, just a few days, but we're leaving in a few hours."

"I see. Give my regards to Stefan, Damon, and Niklaus, if you please. Regrettably, I must be off. I shall see you tonight I am sure, Katerina."

Katerina gave him a kiss on the cheek and a hug, which he stiffly returned, apparently not used to such public displays of affection.

"Oh, get over yourself, Caroline lives here, she practically just walked in on us fucking. I don't think she'll mind if you give me a hug and a kiss goodbye." Katerina reprimanded him.

Caroline felt like burying her head in her hands, but she refrained from doing so.

Elijah kissed her on the cheek again and then let himself out. Katerina locked the door behind him, whirled around, and smacked Caroline on the shoulder.

"Ughh. You _bitch. _We were just getting to the good part, too."

"Rude!"

"So is being a bitch," Katerina grumbled, pulling Caroline up the stairs.

They entered Katerina's room, and while Caroline had been here before, she hadn't taken the time to look around. The walls were a slate blue with delicate white frames for the windows, and Katerina had decorated mainly in gray and a dark blood red. Katerina led Caroline to a door on the side and threw it open, revealing a walk-in closet.

The left side had dresses hung on the horizontal rack, and they were so close together that Caroline could barely recognize differing styles. The other side seemed to be dedicated to blouses, jeans, and sweaters, but there was a large cubby shelf with a pair of shoes in each box.

Katerina eyed Caroline almost critically before pulling dresses off the rack seemingly at random, though Caroline was sure that there must have been some sort of system. She shoved a pile of dresses at Caroline and pushed her out of the closet. "Look through all of those and hang the ones you like on the drying rack I use for my jeans. You can stack the rest of them on my bed."

"Okay."

So, Caroline set to sorting, and Katerina walked out with another pile of dresses. "What kind of thing are you going to?"

"Some kind of benefit, I think. It's a silent auction and the money is going to charity. That's all I know."

"Okay. So you probably won't want anything too revealing."

Katerina started pulling the more revealing dresses off the rack and gave them to Caroline to put back in the closet.

"How's this?" Katerina asked, pulling a blue empire-waist dress off the rack.

Caroline shook her head.

They went through a few more dresses before they found one that Caroline wanted to try on. She took the dress and started walking to the bathroom, but Katerina pointed out that it was nothing she hadn't seen before, and Caroline could change in the closet if she was really that uncomfortable.

When she came out of the closet, Katerina immediately said, "No. Take it off."

They went through what felt like a hundred more dresses before Caroline and Katerina both agreed on one.

"That looks great. Do you have any shoes to go with it?"

"I have some black suede pumps. Do you think that'll work?"

"It's a lot of black. You should probably have a necklace and earrings at least. Do you have any red or blue?"

Caroline nodded distractedly, examining herself in Katerina's full-length mirror.

She saw Katerina's reflection behind her giving her a mischievous smirk. "Klaus's jaw will hit the floor when he sees you in this."

"Oh, go fuck yourself." Caroline mumbled, as she lifted her hair so Katerina could unzip her dress.

"I was getting help with that, but you ruined it with your fashion emergency."

Caroline wrinkled her nose and picked up her jeans from the floor, slipping them on, having left modesty behind fifteen dresses ago, and leaving the room to finish packing.

By this point, she had learned that she should always have a suitcase ready to go. She always had two packed at once, with the necessities. Three complete outfits, toiletries, and any other things she needed to cart around with her. She texted Damon to ask him what of the planning he already had done so that she could take over, and grabbed one of the bags. Damon texted back telling her that it wasn't his job to plan anything, and she needed to get used to doing it by herself. Mumbling death threats under her breath, she opened her laptop and reserved two hotel rooms and called the rental car company.

After taking care of a few more minor details, she stopped by Katerina's room to get her garment bag (and a hug).

Katerina suddenly gave her a confused look. "Wait, aren't you a handler?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, you're not exactly supposed to be on the field during missions."

Caroline shrugged. "Damon thought it was best, and he'll be there if anything goes wrong. It's pretty low-risk anyway, it's not like the guy's a serial killer."

Katerina bit her lip, but nodded. "Wait here," She said, before disappearing into her room and coming back with a syringe filled with a gelatinous chartreuse-colored liquid.

She handed it to Caroline, who inspected it closely. "What's this?"

"It's a tranquilizer. It should knock the guy out for a few hours if things get messy. Promise me you'll keep it on you?"

"Sure, but my clutch doesn't have much room."

"And that," Katerina said, suddenly looking more like her usual self, "Is why the good lord invented breasts."

Caroline snorted, knowing that if Katerina set one foot in a church door she'd probably call holy fire down from the sky to and get sucked into the fiery pits of hell. Katerina winked. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Caroline said, genuinely touched by Katerina's concern.

She texted Stefan to tell him that she was picking up the SUV and she'd be at the boarding house in a few minutes. She took her car to the mansion and parked it in the parking lot in the back, before punching in the safe code to get keys to one of the SUVs. She put her suitcase in the trunk, picked up Stefan, Klaus, and Damon at the boarding house, and started their drive to the airport, spending the whole drive praying to whatever deity that was listening that she would get through the mission without needing to disinfect her mouth.

**XXX**

They landed in Hartford, Connecticut a little before 11 o'clock, and Caroline secured their rental car and they arrived a bit before midnight at a three-star hotel near New Haven. She had reserved a room with two queen beds and she had ordered a cot to go with them. After retrieving the key card from the front desk, she led them up to room 210.

"This is us. Let's put our stuff away and then we'll talk about a plan."

She opened the door and put her suitcase on one of the double beds. "This room has two queen beds, and I ordered a sofa bed. I don't care which one of you gets it, you'll have to duke that out yourselves."

Damon made a face. "I don't do sofa beds."

"Well, you and Klaus are going to have to figure that out."

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Why aren't you and Stefan included in this?"

Caroline shot him a withering look. "Because Stefan and I are sharing. He is the only one I am remotely comfortable being within three feet of when sleeping."

Damon raised an eyebrow at her, but she gave him a minute shake of her head. The last thing she needed was for everyone to know about her disastrous relationship with Damon. Thankfully he kept quiet. She turned around to unzip her suitcase, pulling out sleep pants and a t-shirt before announcing that she was going to change in the bathroom. She closed the door behind her, expecting to hear an argument, but it never came.

She entered the room again, throwing her dirty clothes in the plastic bag she kept in her suitcase.

Damon was sitting on the cot playing on his phone, but looked up when she left the bathroom and moved past her to use it next.

She walked over to Stefan. "Why wasn't there an argument about the beds?" She whispered.

"Would you rather there had been?"

"No, I just feel like Damon would have fought about it."

"No one fights with Klaus."

She frowned. "I do all the time."

He shrugged. "Yeah, well, you appear to be special."

"How?"

"You haven't died yet."

She couldn't tell whether he was joking or not.

After the guys all took turns in the bathroom, Caroline sat them all down. "The benefit is in New Canaan, which is an affluent suburb about forty-five minutes south of here. The benefit starts at 7:30, but I want to leave a little bit early just in case we get caught in traffic, so we'll get an early dinner and leave around five-thirty. Does that sound okay?"

"That's fine."

"Great! Anyway, I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat, and we need sleep."

* * *

**October 12****th****, 2012**

They were all sitting around the hotel room finishing up sandwiches that she had picked up a few blocks away. They had been discussing possible plans for the last few hours, and they had finally come to some sort of agreement.

Caroline would corner the target at the benefit and get the target to leave with her and then lead him out of the building to Klaus. Stefan would go to the benefit with her should something go wrong.

They were currently in the 'what could possibly go wrong' phase of planning, where everyone tried to brainstorm a Plan B (and C and D) for everything.

"What if he doesn't wait until you're outside?"

Caroline pulled out the syringe from her suitcase. "I'll have this the whole time."

"That's a tranquilizer, right?" At her nod, he seemed to relax.

"What if he tries to take you to his house?"

Caroline hadn't thought of that, but Damon pulled a velvet box out of his pocket, and opened it so that she could see a ring. It was beautiful, with a silver band and three blue stones set in a row. Unfortunately, it was beautiful because it was clearly an engagement ring. "So, number one, thanks but no thanks, Damon. Number two, how will that help at all? I'm supposed to be seducing him." Caroline said immediately.

"It's not what you think it is," Damon reassured her, rolling his eyes and holding up his hand, where he wore a similar, but more masculine, ring, "Usually you get one of these when you're done with training, it's sort of a rite of passage, but we're going to give you yours early. And as for seducing him, wear it on your other hand or a different finger."

He gave it to Caroline, who inspected it and then slipped it on, wondering where they got her ring size, and then deciding that it was best not to ask. "What does it do?"

"It's actually a tracker. It's a precaution to make sure that if you do get kidnapped, we'll be able to find you. Unless they take away your ring." Stefan said.

"So you all have a ring?"

Stefan held up his hand, where a similar ring to Damon's rested on his middle finger.

Caroline looked at Klaus, who didn't wear one and frowned.

He pulled a group of necklaces out from under his shirt. "One of them." He said simply, before hiding them again.

Caroline took a deep breath. "Okay."

She turned to Stefan. "What time is it?"

"Four thirty."

Caroline swore and jumped to her feet. "I have to get ready. Do any of you guys need the bathroom? I'll be awhile."

The door was shut and locked before any of the men had a chance to object.

She set her make-up case in front of her and got to work.

An hour later, Caroline carefully blotted her lips and assessed her make-up in the mirror, turning her head from side to side. Satisfied with her result, she fastened her necklace and carefully smoothed out her dress.

It was a black halter bandage dress ending slightly above the knee, rather modest in the front (considering the dress belonged to Katerina), but showing off the creamy skin of her back when she turned. The top had a textured pattern that drew attention to the sweetheart neckline showing off her cleavage, and clung tightly to her figure. She was already regretting her three-inch heels, but there wasn't time to change her decision at this point.

She shut the case and left the bathroom to put it away in her suitcase. If she had turned around at that moment, she would have seen that Katerina had been correct in her earlier prediction.

**XXX**

She was _bewitching. _His eyes immediately were glued to the curve of her arse that her dress was highlighting so beautifully. She would be the focus of every eye at the benefit tonight, he was sure. Stiffening, she seemed to feel his eyes on her, and she turned around to glare at him.

There was something about the fire in her eyes that drew him to her. He had met (and bedded) women much more beautiful, and he had never felt the least bit attached or possessive. However, the idea of other men wanting to have her for themselves irked him. He didn't want to have to watch her accept other men's advances when she had so callously rejected his own. There was no need to compete with these other men though, really, because he knew she was already his, even if she didn't realize it yet.

Though Caroline would most likely contend that she was not a prize but a person, Klaus knew better. He wanted nothing more than to have her, his exquisite little trophy.

If there was one thing Klaus Mikaelson liked more than the hunt, it was to display his winnings for all to see.

And he intended to win her.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review, because constructive criticism the only way I'll get better. :)  
Again, if you're interested, you can find my polyvore account on my profile page which will show you the outfits for this chapter.  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	4. Paintball

**A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, follows &amp; favorites! Not much to say for this chapter, except that I hope you like it ;)  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**October 12****th****, 2012**

Caroline inwardly cringed at the simpering laughter bubbling out of her. The man before her was tall and handsome, but the effect was ruined by the way he leered at her. She would have slapped it off of his face if it wasn't her job to make him do so. Under the pretense of picking up a glass of champagne from the tray a waiter was carrying, she scanned the room for Stefan. He was standing by a wall a few yards away, chatting politely with a pretty middle-aged woman who didn't seem at all intent on flirting with him. They appeared to be talking about a painting that was hanging next to them, and if she hadn't been looking for the tense shoulders and the casual alertness, she would have thought that he was completely enraptured by their conversation.

She didn't sip from the glass, but held it delicately in her hand, listening to the man in front of her prattle on and on about his yacht and his large donation to a non-profit, and a lot of other things that were probably supposed to impress her. She pasted a smile on her face and nodded along with what he was saying, asking the right questions at the right times.

He noticed that she wasn't drinking. "Does the champagne not suit your tastes, sweetheart?"

She felt like retching right there. The endearment sounded so _wrong _coming out of his mouth. The sentence reeked of the stench of a man trying to latch onto any daddy issues she might possess, trying to entice her with money, wealth, and his badly-hidden desire.

Instead, she let out another frighteningly high-pitched giggle. "No. It's really good," she rubbed her arms and shivered slightly.

"Are you cold?"

"Yeah. Just a little. I have a sweater in the car, though. I should go get it."

"Shall I escort you? Beautiful young ladies shouldn't walk alone at night."

He fell for it, and she inwardly cringed. She handed him her glass. Giving him a huge smile, she turned around and walked away, adding a little extra sway to her hips. She subtly checked to make sure Stefan was watching her, and she knew that two minutes later he would excuse himself and go after her.

She kept up a conversation after he caught up, and she led him out the door. "Where did you park?"

"A few blocks that way."

He put an arm around her waist and steered her in the direction she indicated. They walked about a block and a half when Klaus came out of an alley and pulled the guy away from Caroline and shot him in the head.

Caroline hadn't expected it and almost screamed, but she quickly recovered and recoiled at the brain matter on the ground.

"Oh my god, that was—you just killed him."

Klaus shrugged. "Of course I did, that was the plan. Text Stefan and tell him we're done here. I'll grab the body bag."

How could he be so nonchalant about killing someone? His expression didn't even change. It was as though this was daily routine for him. What if it was? She was working with a mass murderer.

In fact, she had assisted said mass murderer.

Multiple times.

He walked off, and Caroline shot a text to Stefan to make sure he was on the way, monitoring her breathing back to a normal cycle, and caught sight of him a few seconds later.

He jogged over to her and gave her a quick hug. "Good job, Care."

"Um, thanks, I guess."

"I know you aren't comfortable with it, but it was quick and painless."

She shrugged.

"You look ravishing," she heard Klaus say from behind her.

Really? There was a man who had been killed less than two minutes ago being loaded into a body bag with brain matter leaking out of his head and Klaus picked that specific moment to tell her that she looked ravishing? She rolled her eyes and chose not to acknowledge the compliment.

* * *

**October 13****th****, 2012**

The early morning flight was crowded, and they had gotten a row to themselves. The Salvatore brothers had the window seats, with Klaus and Caroline taking the aisles. Stefan's head was lolling alternately against the seat and Caroline's shoulder, his mouth slightly open, breathing deeply. Damon seemed to be lost in thought, listening to music. Caroline was playing Angry Birds. And Klaus was…Writing?

Caroline tried to subtly look over the aisle to whatever Klaus was scribbling in. It was a sketchbook. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw his pencil practically flying over the page, capturing what looked like a woman laughing.

He paused, looking up to see that she was staring. He grinned at her, and she frowned, spinning away to look out Stefan's window. In those few seconds though, she had seen enough though to know that he was reasonably talented. She determinately kept her eyes on the clouds rolling by for the rest of the flight. Once they landed, she called ahead for a car to pick them up while they were still on the tarmac, and slung her backpack over her shoulder to leave as soon as the gates opened.

Klaus was still sketching in the car, completely focused on what he was drawing. Damon was dropped off at the house he shared with Elena first, and the driver stopped at the Boarding House, leaving Stefan and Klaus. The driver finally pulled up at the tiny house she shared with Katerina, and Caroline headed to her room. She opened her backpack and shook out the contents on the bed, throwing her old clothes in the hamper and returning her accessories and makeup to their proper places. She noticed a flat piece of paper under her things resting against the blanket and picked it up.

It was a drawing of her.

She was in profile, holding a champagne glass in her hand talking to someone off the page. A smile was stretched across her face, her eyes were sparkling, and she looked happy. She looked…beautiful. Klaus had written his name at the bottom in beautiful calligraphy.

She realized that she was beaming, and immediately wiped the look off her face.

She decided right then that no matter how many beautiful pictures of her he drew, he'd still be a creep (how did he get that into her bag, anyway?) and an asshole. She made a promise to herself that she would remember that.

* * *

**October 23****rd****, 2012**

Caroline bounced on the balls of her feet and took a deep breath. It was her last day of training with him, although she was supposed to continue training with Sage, and she was excited to get out.

There weren't really any tests, and the day was mostly just a review. Alaric basically just told her that she was ready, and that she'd have to come back once or twice every few weeks to stay in shape.

She ducked Alaric's punch and landed a kick in his stomach causing him to fall over, and then ran to the other side of the room to touch the wall (the point of the exercise being that she got away from the threat safely).

She wiped her face with a towel and chugged some water.

"Are you excited for tonight?"

"Yeah! I still don't know what we're doing though."

"You're not supposed to until you get there. It's part of the weird hazing thing that they do."

"I won't have to get drunk, will I? 'Cause I'm a total lightweight."

Alaric laughed. "No. You won't. At least, not this afternoon. I'll give you a hint though: Based on the skillset you showed the first few weeks of training, you'll be fine."

"That's not all that helpful, Alaric."

He just laughed.

She gave him a hug. "Thanks so much for all the help."

"It's my job, ya know."

"Yeah. But still. You didn't have to, since I'm a handler."

He shrugged. "You wanted to learn. You should head home and take a shower. I'm sure Kat will help you get ready for whatever you guys are doing."

"See you!"

The trip home was quick, and she walked out of the bathroom to her room in a towel to find Katerina sitting on her bed with a pile of clothes next to her and flipping through a magazine.

"Seriously Kat? Can't you like, wait outside like a normal person?"

"Nope. Get dressed in these."

Caroline towel dried her hair and then pulled on the black cargo pants and tank top, with black boots.

"Why am I wearing this?"

Kat just gave her an evil grin and handed her a jacket. "We're headed to the field near here. You should leave all your stuff here, but wear your ring, and bring your phone."

"'Kay."

The walk was short, and when they arrived Caroline saw that everyone was standing together wearing attire similar to hers and Katerina's, even Elijah, though he had opted for a well-tailored polo shirt rather than the muscle shirts all the other men were wearing.

"Ready, Caroline?" Kol asked.

"For what?"

"We're playing paintball."

She then realized why Alaric said that she'd be fine. None of the others besides Stefan and Damon knew that she was a good shot.

Damon smirked at her, seeming to know what she was thinking.

Matt Donovan, their "preferred nerd" as Damon put it, made everyone quiet down.

"As all of you know, the point of the game is to retrieve the other team's flag," Matt held up two pillowcases. One blue and the other red, "and bring it back to your base. The first team to get the flag back to their base wins. You can hide your flag anywhere on ground—no trees, people—and you can have any number of people guarding it, but it has to be in plain sight. You also have to choose a spot for your hostages, which you will tell me and the other team before the game starts. Cell phone use is allowed. I won't be shooting anyone, I'll just be refereeing. If you get shot, you're on the ground standing still for 10 minutes, or following your captor to the hostage area if they tell you to do so. If there's a dispute, text me and I'll come over. Hide the flag and send someone back to me with the locations of the flag and where you'll be holding the hostages. I'll blow the horn when we're starting. Red team is that way, blue team is that way," he pointed, "Once both teams have reported to me you have five minutes before I blow the horn. Codename use is not required, but encouraged," there was some scattered laughter.

"Captain, you have blue team, Tinkerbell's got red."

Damon and Katerina each stood on one side of Matt.

"Captain goes first."

"Ripper."

Stefan stood next to his brother.

"Jeeves."

Elijah joined Katerina, and Caroline reflected that he was probably the only person she knew that could make an eyeroll look classy.

"Barbie."

"_Barbie?" _Caroline asked incredulously.

"_Secret Agent_ Barbie." Damon elaborated.

She groaned.

Rebekah and Kol shared an incredulous look. Apparently they all thought she was useless.

"Snickers."

Elena bounced over to Katerina, shooting a huge smile at her sister.

"Snickers?" Caroline whispered to Stefan.

"She and Damon won't tell anyone why, so it's best just not to ask."

She laughed quietly.

"Klaus."

And it went on. The nicknames thing still seemed rather silly to her, but it was fun. And she needed fun.

Rebekah and Jeremy rounded out Damon's team. Katerina chose Kol, Bonnie, and Tyler.

"Get your gear and head out guys."

There was a general rush for helmets, padded jackets, and guns, and the two teams went their separate ways.

The fall afternoon was reasonably cool, and the leaves were falling off the trees so there was almost no cover.

Stefan fell into step beside her and spoke to her in a low voice. "Most of us trained with pistols, since the guns usually need to be small enough to hide in clothes. Kol is by far the best shot of all of us, since he sometimes ends up a sniper, and I think you're almost up to his level."

A few minutes later they had arrived at a clearing, and Damon turned around to face them. "All right team. We're going to send Barbie out first. She'll be able to pick off anyone that conspicuously heads our way in the first few minutes."

"That isn't a viable plan, _Captain_," Klaus said, his voice dripping with a startling amount of sarcasm at Damon's name, "Unless Caroline has miraculously gained skill with firearms we shouldn't send her out first."

Stefan and Damon smirked at each other.

"Barbie, shoot that tree." Damon pointed at a tree that was reasonably far away.

Caroline rolled her eyes at his theatrics, but obligingly aimed and shot it right in the middle of the trunk. She brought the gun back to her side and turned back to the rest of her team, trying not to giggle at the stunned faces of Klaus, Rebekah, and Jeremy.

"I don't think Batman could do that," Jeremy said, slight awe in his voice.

_Batman? _Caroline mouthed to Stefan.

_Kol_, he mouthed back.

Damon grinned and went back to his speech. "Great. So, we'll send Barbie and Ripper out first, Klaus, you follow after her. Barbie, once you get somewhere near the middle, find a spot with good visibility, up a tree or on top of a rock or something. The rules say we can't put our flag up there, but they don't say anything about putting you up there."

Caroline nodded.

"Where are we going to hide the flag?" Rebekah asked.

"Good question Cheesy."

"_Cheesy?_"

Jeremy grinned. "Do you want cheese with that whine?"

"Oh stuff it." Rebekah muttered at him, elbowing him in the chest.

"There's this hollow log somewhere in that direction with a hole in it. We can hide it there." Damon pointed.

"Lil' Gilbert and I will stay around here. There's a rock formation a little that way that we've used to hide flags in before, but we'll use it for hostages this time. Cheesy, you'll hide it in the hole in the log, make sure people can see it, and stick around in a tree to snipe people. Everyone okay with the plan?"

There were a bunch of nods, and Jeremy saluted, grinning.

"Good. Lil' Gilbert, go with Cheesy and hide the flag, then go back to the rock formation. I need to tell Donovan where we're putting it. Barbie, Ripper, Klaus, start planning your invasion. Unless you told Tinkerbell, no one on the other team knows you can shoot, Barbie. Let's use that to our advantage."

"Why don't you have a nickname, Klaus?"

"Because he won't answer to one. We've tried giving him about five of them so far, but my brother just seems to hate fun."

"No, Bekah, I just do not wish to be made a fool of."

"I thought Bond was kind of cute." Rebekah said, pouting.

Klaus snorted. "Exactly. There are many words I'd use to describe myself. 'Cute' is not one of them."

"I'm going to go tell Donovan where we're putting the flag and hostages," Damon said, walking off.

"When the horn goes off, just go slow and try to be quiet. I'll show you where to go. Klaus will be behind us. Once we get a little bit into their side, you'll need to pick a tree that's in a good location with lots of coverage and wait," Stefan said.

"Aye-aye skipper," Caroline said mockingly.

"Ripper." Jeremy corrected.

Caroline shrugged. "Tomato, tomato."

Damon arrived back to them just as the horn blared. "All right team, move out." Damon said, winking and walking off without another word, pulling Jeremy behind him.

Caroline ducked through the trees and started off quietly. There weren't clearly defined sides, but the other team's flag was somewhere on the other side of the forest. She followed Stefan out to the other side.

"Why would Rebekah snipe people if they only stay down for 10 minutes? I thought we couldn't move the flag."

"We can't. She'll text Damon or Jeremy and they'll pick up the hostages and bring them back to the rock formation."

"How does the other team know that you have hostages?"

"You have to text the team captain to tell them. It's how the game works. He had to tell Matt and Kat where we're keeping everyone too."

"If you're a hostage, are you allowed to escape?"

"Yeah, after the ten minutes are up if you can."

Stefan paused and looked around. "Here should be okay, why don't you get up in one of those trees?"

Caroline nodded and Stefan helped boost her up into the branches of the nearest tree. They heard footsteps and both of them paused, listening. Klaus came up behind Stefan. "I heard Lockwood somewhere that way. It's been three years since he's done training and he still can't walk quietly to save his life."

"Are you good here, Caroline?"

"Yeah."

"Once you get someone, text Damon where you are so he or Jeremy can come pick them up."

"And they can't run away for the ten minutes after they're shot, so you can tell them to follow you if needed." Klaus added.

"Once you deliver them, double back and find a new tree, or somewhere to hide behind. Text us with your new location, if you can."

"What are you guys going to do?"

"We're trying to lead people to you, and figure out where the flag is."

"Okay."

They left, and Caroline sat back in the tree, her gun poised.

It wasn't long before she heard some rustling in the trees next to them. Tyler walked out slowly, his gun read in his hands. Caroline aimed and fired, hitting him in the stomach. He fell down and put his hands in the air. She jumped out of the tree, landing on her feet and grabbed him, leading him back towards their base.

"Impressive shot, Barbie."

"No talking." Caroline said, laughing slightly.

"Sorry."

She pulled out her phone and sent a group text.

_Got Tyler, headed back to base. –C_

_Meet at treeline. –D _

It was a five minute walk, and she handed him over to Jeremy and Damon, before turning around to head back. She quietly moved through the forest to find another place. Spotting a rock formation deeper in the forest, she headed that way, and situated herself in a gap in the rocks, snapping a picture of her location and texting it to the team.

Her phone vibrated about thirty seconds later.

_Eli &amp; Kol to Bekah through C's loc. S go backup –K_

_On my way - S_

She crouched in the rocks, peeking out every few seconds. She saw movement in the trees and froze. Elijah and Kol were walking quietly through the clearing, gesturing to each other rather than saying anything out loud.

She couldn't take both of them, so the question was whether she should shoot one and risk getting shot herself, or follow them until she got a better shot.

She heard leaves snap to her right, and she whipped around to look. She saw Stefan moving through the trees.

Catching his eye, she shook her head back and forth rapidly to tell him not to approach. He mouthed "Elijah" and pointed to himself. She nodded, getting the message.

He moved towards her, and she circled around as well. She readied her gun and peeked around the rock to see Kol with his gun pointed at her chest.

"Hello, darling."

She stiffened and hoped that Stefan had gone. Kol held his weapon straight as he backed away, and then shot her from about fifteen feet away.

"Ouch."

"Be glad that I chose to back away before I got you."

She smiled slightly, but followed him back to the hostages. Elijah wasn't there, and she wondered whether he and Stefan had a similar interaction. She followed Kol to the side of a river deeper into the forest, and he handed her off to Bonnie, who promptly tied her wrist loosely to a tree and then sat down on a rock, opening a novel that she had rested there.

Caroline counted down the minutes in her head, adding two just to be safe, while assessing her circumstances.

Bonnie wasn't paying any attention. It would be easy to shoot her and leave if she had to. She figured that Bonnie would probably also be a liability if she had to take her all the way back to her team's camp. It would be better to leave her shot for ten minutes than try to take her all the way back to camp. Her gun was sitting by the rock to the side. She started trying to loosen the knot on the ropes, watching Bonnie for any reaction. The other girl seemed too absorbed in her book to watch out—or perhaps she just didn't care much about the game.

Caroline got the knot untied and carefully let the rope fall to the ground. She grabbed her gun and shot Bonnie in the side.

Bonnie swore.

"Sorry."

"Don't be," Bonnie said, gingerly poking herself in the side.

Caroline slung her gun over her shoulder and left the clearing, and was pulling out her phone to text everyone when she got pulled behind a tree.

"You shouldn't stand in the open like that."

"What are you doing here Klaus?"

"I was coming to the rescue of the beautiful damsel, of course."

"Thanks, but I don't need rescuing," she said, tearing her arm away.

"I can see that. Ripper is trying to cut off my brothers before they can do any real damage. My guess is that they have Katerina guarding their flag."

"Okay. Let's see if we can find her then."

_Got away. Bonnie shot at waterfall. K and I scouting. –C_

Rebekah immediately replied.

_Clear here. –B_

Klaus motioned for Caroline to walk ahead of him, and they silently walked through the forest. Klaus stilled suddenly, and Caroline realized why when she heard a rustle near her. She backed up against a tree with her gun out and slowly looked around.

Edging towards the sound slowly, she peeked behind a tree to see Katerina poised to fire into the trees on top of a rock, which was settled in the middle of a huge clearing. Clearly the other team thought that no one on her team could shoot accurately enough to hit her without walking in the clearing or giving away their location. Sure enough, she saw a bit of red fabric peeking out from behind the rock.

Klaus put his finger to his lips and pointed at her, then mimed shooting Katerina. He pointed to himself and then to the flag, then pointed towards the edge of the trees. Caroline nodded and readied her gun.

He held his fingers to count down, and the second his fingers hit three, Caroline shot Katerina in the stomach and Klaus was running with the flag.

"What the _fuck_," Katerina mumbled.

"Sorry. It's the game." Caroline said, shrugging.

"Where'd you learn to shoot like that?"

"At home."

Katerina waved her hand in the air, and Caroline grasped it, pulling the other girl to her feet.

The horn blared, and they brushed off their pants to head back.

Klaus was standing smugly next to Matt, and was accepting the congratulations from the other agents. Caroline huffed—she had, after all, pretty much won the game with her shot—and when Klaus looked at her, he sent her a dimpled smile that made her knees simultaneously weak and itching to collide hard with his groin.

The group began to split off slightly, and Stefan fell into step beside her as they walked, followed shortly by Klaus.

"We're all heading back to our place."

"Yes. Ripper has been slaving away at the stove all day for you, Caroline."

"What are you making?"

"It's a surprise."

She gave him a nasty look, but he just chuckled and walked away. It was approaching late afternoon, and the sky was getting darker as they all walked back to the Boarding House together. Stefan caught up with Rebekah, and Caroline watched them chat. Stefan had always had a very serious resting face, which she teased him about mercilessly, but he seemed to always be smiling around Rebekah.

From what she understood about Rebekah, she had never been around other children her age. All the Mikaelsons were born into The Travelers, meaning that they never really had any friends other than the other kids in the organization.

Caroline reflected that it must have been very lonely. It certainly explained a lot of Rebekah's awkwardness. With four brothers she was bound to be sheltered and a bit spoiled. It seemed to Caroline that the only boy they let around her for any extended period of time was Stefan.

They were good for each other.

Klaus continued walking beside her, his hands clasped behind his back, completely silent. Caroline hated awkward silences, she always felt the need to talk about something, which usually ended up with her babbling about something while the other person tried to edge away.

"Is this it?"

"Is what it?"

"Are we just having dinner?"

Klaus smiled. "Well, if I were you I would drink lots of water, especially as I'm willing to bet that you're a lightweight."

"Do you guys all get drunk?"

"I don't like getting drunk. I find that it lowers my inhibitions and my reflexes, which makes me rather uncomfortable. However, most of them like to 'let loose' so-to-speak once in awhile. You finishing training just gives them an excellent excuse."

"Oh."

They continued walking, the silence now a little bit more comfortable, and Caroline realized that she had stopped dreading being around him. She still wasn't exactly fond of him, but he was tolerable. He seemed to respect her more than he had at the beginning, and over the past two weeks had made a point of being kinder to her than the others.

She was beginning to think that he actually genuinely wanted _her_ around, not just her body.

Then again, she definitely had standards, and to set her expectations of behavior to "doesn't keep his eyes fixed on my breasts or sexually harass me" wasn't doing herself justice.

She most definitely deserved better.

**XXX**

Rebekah raised her glass. "Never have I ever had sex with a man after having sex with his brother."

Elena and Katerina clinked glasses and tossed back shots.

Caroline looked horrified, and it took all of Rebekah's willpower not to laugh.

"What…?"

Katerina turned to Caroline. "Elena dated Stefan for a few months when he first joined, but figured out that Damon was the one for her. Unfortunately."

"And you?"

"Oh. Well, I know Klaus wants _you_… But been there, banged that." She winked.

Caroline wrinkled her nose. Rebekah was intrigued.

"You're thinking of sleeping with Nik?"

"No," Caroline said hastily, "He's thinking of sleeping with _me._ I have no intention of doing anything with him."

"Never have I ever kissed a man," Damon said, his voice cutting through the chatter.

All the girls downed a shot, as did Jeremy and Tyler. Stefan elbowed Klaus in the side, and he rolled his eyes but took a sip from his shot glass, which was noticeably less full than anyone else's. At Caroline's raised eyebrows, Stefan said, "Klaus and I had a mission that involved infiltrating a gay bar to get the owner."

Rebekah remembered that mission _very _well. She had been much more insecure at sixteen than she was now, and she objected strongly to Stefan being the one to go in the bar. Stefan still joked that Klaus took one for the team, but her brother always just shrugged and muttered something about professionalism.

Rebekah turned back to Caroline. "Seriously, though. I understand that my brother is attractive, lord knows I see the women's eyes follow him, but he doesn't do relationships. You'll just get hurt."

Or killed, but no use scaring the girl.

"Look though, Bekah. Klaus can't take his eyes off of her."

Rebekah looked in the direction Katerina had gestured and saw her brother completely absorbed in watching Caroline's every move. "That's not creepy at all."

"That's what I said," Caroline mumbled.

"Well, good luck with him Caroline."

"I don't need luck, because I don't want him."

"Then you'll need luck to keep him away from you," Rebekah said seriously, "Nik always gets what he wants. Always."

Caroline frowned and knocked back a shot for Stefan's "Never have I ever kissed Damon Salvatore" along with Elena and Katerina.

"Really Kat?"

"He thought I was Elena," Katerina said, rolling her eyes, "I don't know how. My sister has the worst taste in clothes. I swear it's like the girl was born a nun."

Caroline snorted into her water cup.

Rebekah noticed Elena giving Caroline a quizzical glance.

"Does Elena know you dated Damon?" Rebekah asked.

"I don't know," Caroline said, shrugging. "I don't think it ever came up. It was awhile ago anyway, like two summers. He left town when he was twelve, and he came back looking like _that_. And, no offense Rebekah, Stefan was pretty broken up that summer, and he was absolutely no fun at all. I'd known Damon since I was a kid, so he was safe enough to date but dangerous enough to fulfill my teenage girl ambitions of dating a James Dean doppelganger. I guess that must have been the summer before he and Elena got together?"

Katerina nodded.

"Yeah. It was a pretty short relationship. Nothing serious. It really wasn't a huge deal."

Rebekah could see from her body language that Caroline was glossing over a bit of the story, though she doubted it was anything major. She exchanged a quick look with Katerina, who nodded to show that she had also noticed.

Rebekah also saw Klaus giving Damon a death stare out of the corner of her eye.

"Never have I ever had sex in my brother's bed."

Stefan smacked Kol upside the head as Damon took a shot.

Rebekah excused herself to the kitchen. She felt a little bit tipsy, and she didn't want her impulses to get the better of her today. She poured herself a glass of water and rummaged around in the cupboards for some bread to make toast.

She heard the kitchen door open and close behind her and she turned to see Stefan standing on the threshold.

"Hey," he said, poking the lever on the toaster to make the bread pop up early.

"That's my toast. Get your own."

He smiled and spread some strawberry jam on it before handing it to her. "You had the setting too high, you would have burnt it."

She took a bite. "Well, you are the toast-master," she said through a mouthful of food.

He grinned. "Only for you."

She had spent many a night at his and Klaus' place while Finn was gone, in the spare bedroom _of course _(at least as far as her brothers knew) and he had eventually figured out exactly how she liked practically every breakfast food known to man.

Finn had practically raised her and the rest of her siblings. Their father had left them (and the agency) right after her and Kol's fifth birthday, and their mother had disappeared three years later. She was assumed dead, but he body was never found. Finn had been a bright eighteen year old, head over heels in love with Sage, and was shaping up to be one of the agency's best handlers. After their mother disappeared, he was thrust into the role of caregiver, and he had ended up going into the technology and security branch, helping to develop the technology for the agency rings and button cameras.

Though he had stayed at the agency location, he had still been pretty absent emotionally. Rebekah and Kol went through the motions of schooling, but Finn had an immense amount of pressure on him, and would no doubt have crumbled had it not been for Sage.

Rebekah had an enormous amount of respect for the redheaded force of nature Finn had married. With four brothers, she had craved a mother figure, and when Sage had found her sobbing in her bedroom at the age of thirteen because she saw the blood on her underwear and thought she was dying, the other woman had immediately stepped up to the plate. She and Kol had immediately latched onto Sage as a maternal influence, and unlike her husband, she had thrived under the pressure.

Sage had been the one to gently push Rebekah in Stefan's direction, and to hold her when she sobbed over the mission to South America. Since Sage was mentoring Caroline, Rebekah came to her once to ask what she thought was going on between Caroline and Stefan.

The result of that conversation was what spurred her to her next action. She put the plate down on the counter and turned to Stefan, pressing her lips to his. He stiffened for a moment, but then pulled her against him, his fingers gripping her waist firmly, his mouth moving perfectly with hers. She sighed, melting into him and gripping the front of his t-shirt. He broke away, resting his forehead against hers.

"Not that I'm complaining—and I'm really _really _not complaining—but what brought this on, exactly?"

"I missed you Stefan."

His smile warmed her from the inside. "I missed you too Beks."

"And," she continued, "I want to stop being on a break. But, I mean, only if you want to."

"I'd like that."

She grinned and melded her lips to his. He picked her up to sit her on the counter-top, her legs wrapping around his waist, and his fingers danced over her stomach and then gripped the hem of her shirt.

There was a cough from the doorway, and Stefan removed his hands from her as though they had been burned. Rebekah inwardly swore and dropped her head against Stefan's shoulder. Damn her brother's superhuman ears.

"Hello, Nik. What do you want?"

Klaus completely ignored her. "Stefan, mate. What do you think you're doing?"

"Oh for goodness sake, Nik, not this again."

"Bekah, we make food in this kitchen."

"Your point being?"

"This is completely inappropriate."

"Because you totally didn't screw Sophie into the linoleum of _my_ kitchen last year."

"She wasn't my sister."

"I should hope not."

"I need to speak to Stefan alone."

"Why? I have a right to snog anybody I want."

"Leave Bekah."

"No."

"Bekah…"

Recognizing the dangerous tone, she hmphed and stomped out of the room, making a show of slamming the door behind her so that she could press her hear up against it and listen.

"Stefan, you are going to put a good word in for me with Caroline."

"Why?"

"So that I don't use you as a test subject to practice vivisection."

"I don't think—"

"What, is my sister not worth enough for you to ask Caroline very kindly to give me a chance?"

"You're an ass."

"Does that mean you'll do it?"

"Fine, but I can't guarantee she'll say yes."

"Of course you can, Ripper. I believe in you. I'm going to retire for the night. I'll leave you two to talk. Bekah, I know you can hear every word of what I'm saying, so please do try to play along in regards to Caroline. I would so hate to have to follow through with my threats on your beau."

Rebekah let out a sharp breath. It seemed that Klaus was serious about the girl after all, or as serious as Klaus's feelings could be about anything. She was not blind to her brother's faults. Klaus may be charming and funny, but he was also incredibly manipulative. She knew that to him, no one was a person with feelings, only leverage—even her.

Peering at the other blonde, who was talking to Katerina, both of them giggling uncontrollably, she realized that Caroline really had no idea how much of a monster her brother was.

However, there was really nothing to be done. The poor girl had inadvertently attracted Klaus's attention, and no one could do anything to save her now.

It was a pity. She really had started to take a liking to the girl.

* * *

**A/N: Well, there you have it :) Let me know what you liked or didn't like. Reviews are the only way I'll get better. :D Thanks so much for reading!**

**Hugs!  
-Angie**


	5. Augustine's Bar & Grill

**A/N: Hello, all :) Thank you so, so, SO much for your reviews, follows, and favorites. You guys say such nice things, and I'm glad you're enjoying it.  
**

**There was some concern that I would kill off Caroline, and I'd like to say right now that she will stay alive. I believe that authors have a responsibility to be honest with their readers from the beginning if there's major character death, or if the advertised pairing isn't together in the end. I can't count the times when I read a 100k+ word story (particularly in the Harry Potter fandom) where at the end the two characters don't actually end up together, or one of them dies.  
I also understand how frustrating it can be when one of the love interests has a personality flip and becomes cuddly after being a dark character for the first 3/4 of the story. For anyone who is concerned about Klaus having a personality switch, that WILL NOT happen. Klaus is dark in this story, and he will stay dark. If you want to see me write Cuddly!Klaus, I recommend my other story "The Safehouse" and its sequel "Home."  
**

****TLDR: Klaus stays dark, but there is a happy ending for Klaroline anyway.****

**I hope that clears that up :) Anyway, now that I've written a frigging novel-length Author's Note, I hope you enjoy the chapter ;)  
-Angie**

* * *

**October 25****th****, 2012**

"Bonnie, you need to come to the clinic."

Bonnie carefully capped the needle that she had been using to dispense the newest version of the blood serum onto the petri dishes for testing and turned to face her Grams, scowling.

"Why? Sage is on today, isn't she?"

"Yes, but that boy won't let anyone treat him but you."

There was only one person her Grams could be talking about, and Bonnie gave an exasperated sigh.

"Kol's hurt?"

"He came in shouting like a dying man, but demanding it be you to see him when Sage tried to check on him. He throws a fit every time he wakes up. I'm honestly not sure what you see in that boy."

"I don't see anything in him. We're not together Grams, remember? I've said it a thousand times." Bonnie said irritably, peeling off her gloves and placing her goggles on the hook by the door.

"So you say, child."

"I'm 19 years old with a master's degree level knowledge of Chemistry and Biology. I'm not a child."

"Wisdom comes with age and experience, not with knowledge."

"Whatever." Bonnie said sullenly, hanging her coat up on the rack over her goggles and grabbing her purse.

Her Grams smiled softly at her, and Bonnie heard the unsaid "You're proving my point" loud and clear.

Bonnie walked briskly out of the research center to the hospital across the street, pausing to wave to Vicki, who was escorting a patient to the examination rooms. Bonnie entered the wing of the hospital reserved for Traveler agents, and quickly located the room they were keeping Kol in.

Elena was sitting on a chair in the corner flipping through the latest issue of Cosmopolitan and eating take-out straight from the carton. She looked up when Bonnie entered and motioned to the chart sitting on the bedside table.

"The target hit him over the head with a gun barrel. He has a concussion, but it's not terrible. Sage wants to keep him here for the next few days, and off missions for a week or so, though."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Bonnie said, "How long has he been asleep?"

"He's been here for about three hours. We've been doing the normal thing, waking him up every half hour or so. He just got back to sleep."

"Thank the lord for small favors," Bonnie muttered.

Elena snorted and went back to her magazine. Bonnie turned and sat on the chair next to Kol's bed. He was pale against the warm blue sheets, but appeared calm in sleep. She checked over her shoulder to make sure Elena was still absorbed in her reading before smoothing the hair off of his forehead.

She knew that he liked her, and if she was honest with herself, she liked him too. But Bonnie had a lot on her plate. She was close to finishing the development of the blood serum with her Great-Aunt Ayana, and she was independently working on another project too, though she didn't want anyone to know about it until she knew she had a high chance of succeeding.

Bonnie considered herself a moral person. She didn't believe in killing or torture. However, often the needs of the many outweighed the sacrifices of the few, and she was working to develop a serum that could be used to interrogate prisoners.

The Travelers didn't only deal in contracted murder and investigations. Often, governments needed someone interrogated, but wouldn't be able to legally do it. However, if they were to hand off the prisoner to The Travelers, they could look the other way while still obtaining the information. Unfortunately, this worked both ways, and her cousin Emily Bennett had been kidnapped two years before on her way to deliver sensitive information back to her contractor.

They had a prisoner—Galen Vaughn—held at their location in Bulgaria that might have some information about her location, but he wasn't talking. Her goal was to create something that would make him spill anything and everything he knew.

The creation of the serum—she had taken to calling it Venom in her head—was taking an immense amount of her time, and she didn't feel that she had enough energy for a relationship. She knew that Kol was a catch, and that he would find someone else if she made him wait for too long, but she couldn't—wouldn't—allow herself to limit his options because she didn't have enough time to devote to him.

Even though her heart broke a little bit every time she looked at his face.

She left to get a cup of coffee from the employee kitchen, and when she came back Elena was packing her bag.

"You can stay with him for a bit, right? Finn and Sage needed someone to babysit Katya and Dmitri, and you were here anyway, so I thought…"

"Yeah. That's fine." Bonnie said, smiling.

Elena rushed out, and Bonnie sat down again. She couldn't stop herself from stroking his face, but recoiled almost immediately when his eyelids fluttered. He smiled at her. "Hello, beautiful."

She tried not to smile. "Kol. How are you feeling? I heard that you had quite the skull-bashing."

"All in a day's work, darling."

"If you're hungry I'll get someone to bring you some oatmeal. You should probably get some sleep though after you eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"Okay."

"Unless you're offering…"

"No, Kol."

"Can't blame a lad for trying."

"Yes. Yes I actually can."

Kol grinned and settled back onto his pillows. "Did I pull you away from anything important?"

"Only the preliminary testing for the newest batch of incredibly time and temperature sensitive blood serum. Don't worry, it's not like I was busy or anything." Bonnie said dryly.

"Sorry." He said, truly looking apologetic.

Bonnie let a soft smile spread across her face. "I'm glad you're all right."

He smiled, and it had none of the mischief that it usually held. "Me too. Listen, Bonnie, I have something I want to talk—"

"I need to head back to the lab. I'm going to go get a nurse and ask them to check on you every so often." Bonnie said, cutting him off and leaving the room.

She knew she was a coward, but she didn't want to tell him out loud that nothing could happen, because that would seem so final. She wanted him, but it wasn't fair to him to make him come second to her work. The wounded expression on his face as she left was burned into her mind, however. She just hoped she was making the right decision.

* * *

**October 27****th****, 2012**

Caroline took a deep breath as she gripped the steering wheel and went through her mental checklist for the fifth time in the past hour. It was still early afternoon, and the sun was shining through the crisp air of autumn. It was going to start snowing soon, she knew. She was surprised it hadn't already. She hummed to herself as the bare trees and concrete buildings flew by on the highway, and heard Stefan or Klaus stirring in their sleep. They had been driving since early that morning, and they were almost to their destination.

They were on their way to Philadelphia for her third mission without Damon. It also happened to be the first long-term mission she'd ever been on, as well as the first government-contracted. They were to investigate a bar that supposedly doubled as one of the front for a drug cartel. Apparently it wasn't high-profile enough for the government to get involved, but was enough of a threat that they hired the Travelers to take care of it. The task was supposed to take at least a month to complete, and contrary to Caroline's initial impressions, the Travelers didn't have an infinite amount of money to spend on hotel rooms. Caroline had procured an apartment in downtown Philadelphia where the three of them would be staying. She had done her research and managed to find an ad on Craigslist that looked desperate enough that the owner wouldn't look too hard at who was renting as long as they had the money. Today was move-in day, and tomorrow they would be scoping out the bar. Caroline already had done an initial Google search and found out that they were hiring.

She heard a mumbled inquiry for the time behind her.

"It's only around one o'clock."

"Can we stop for lunch? We've been driving all day."

"We're almost at the apartment, Stefan. We can stop at the grocery store on the way and you can cook us some lunch."

"How long until we arrive, Caroline?" Klaus asked, his voice gravelly from his nap.

"We have about forty-five minutes to go."

Stefan cursed under his breath and let his head fall against the window with a clunk. By the rustle of pages she knew that Klaus was pulling out his sketchbook. The pencil scratching against paper was sort-of soothing in an odd way, and before she knew it they were driving up to a red brick building nestled in between a parking garage and a bookstore. Caroline turned into the parking garage, punching in the key-code to open the door, and pulled into a parking space near the entrance.

Tossing a quick demand for Stefan and Klaus to take the car and go grocery shopping while she got the apartment squared away, she grabbed her suitcases and headed to the landlady's office. She knocked on the door, and it flew open within seconds to reveal a plump smiling woman in a garishly patterned maxi dress and heavy make-up. As she sat down and accepted a cup of coffee, Caroline found herself thinking that it was probably a good thing that the apartment complex had heat or the woman would be very uncomfortable indeed.

"Are you Carrie Stones?"

"Yeah. It's good to meet you."

"I thought you said you had two roommates."

"They're grocery shopping right now. I'm just supposed to get the papers signed and everything."

She nodded, and they chatted as they went through the required paperwork.

"Thanks very much."

"Of course. Glad to have you here."

She was shooed out of the office and up the stairs with the three keys to the apartment.

The lock opened with a click and she walked in. As promised, the place was furnished with the essentials. Dragging her suitcase past the tiny kitchen, she opened the door to her left to find the bathroom. Turning around, she found that the two other doors opened to bedrooms, both of which had a double bed, a dresser, and a bedside table. She unzipped the bag she had packed with the living essentials and put sheets and blankets on both beds, before putting the cutlery and plastic dishes she had brought in the kitchen, along with a few small pots and pans. She hung up the towels in the bathroom, and then carried both bedside tables to the living room, pushing them together against the wall to make a desk for the computer.

She texted the boys to also pick up dish and laundry detergent, hand soap, and a few other little things that she hadn't bothered bringing and began to unpack her clothes into the dresser in one of the bedrooms, humming absently to herself. She heard a knock on the door, and opened it for Stefan and Klaus.

"Do you need any help with the rest of the groceries?"

"Nah. We'll carry them up the stairs if you put them away."

She smiled in response and started putting the food in their proper places. After an hour, the three of them were sitting down to a late lunch of chicken salad and grilled vegetables and discussing the plan.

Stefan was to get a job as a bartender, and Caroline as a waitress. They would play the brother and sister that just moved to town, observing the situation for two weeks, and then discuss further plans.

Klaus, on the other hand, was supposed to try and figure out who was in on the secret and who wasn't. This would involve him hanging around at the bar quite a bit to socialize, and listening to the recordings from the bugs they were going to plant. Caroline had originally wanted Klaus at the bar to avoid being on the field herself (she technically wasn't supposed to be, after all) while she listened to the recordings, but employees couldn't leave if someone was bothering them, and Klaus would have been obligated to interact with people for hours at a time, which she didn't think he was up for. She didn't want some guy who just got broken up with to die just because he found the wrong shoulder to cry on.

In the past few months she had figured out that Klaus didn't really respond well to annoyance. People usually ended up injured or dead if they mouthed off to him. Even within their circle of friends—well, her circle of friends, she didn't think he really understood the concept of a friend—almost no one dared to speak rudely to him, except his siblings.

And her.

She still didn't understand why he put up with it, to be honest. She wasn't anything special, and though she understood from the heated looks and confident smirk that he wanted her, from her understanding when she talked to Katerina about it he didn't exactly discriminate his anger based on sex appeal.

She was pulled from her musings by Klaus's pointed cough in her direction. She looked up to see Stefan and Klaus both staring at her.

"What?"

"We were just discussing if I should accompany you to the bar tomorrow so that you and Stefan can ask about jobs."

Caroline shrugged. "I don't think you need to come."

Klaus shrugged. "Suit yourself, I suppose. In the meantime though we should all unpack."

Stefan dragged his suitcases into the room and began to stack his t-shirts in the drawers.

"You're not planning on sleeping in here, are you?" Caroline asked.

She was perfectly content to share a room with Stefan for a night or two, but she didn't want to for an indeterminately long amount of time. He kicked and stole the covers, and she was totally not up for that.

"No, but there isn't a dresser in the living room."

"Why aren't you and Klaus flipping a coin over the couch?"

Stefan shot her a withering look. "I know how to pick my battles."

A few moments passed in silence as they both unpacked, until Stefan spoke.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Always. What's up?"

Stefan turned to her with a pained smile. "Rebekah and I are getting back together."

Caroline's eyes lit up. "That's great! Oh my gosh, Stefan, I'm so happy for you. You don't look happy. Why aren't you happy?"

"No, no I am. But Klaus isn't as supportive."

"Who cares what he thinks. Don't let him run your life, Stefan." Caroline said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, that's the thing. He has a lot of power in the organization, not to mention that he's Rebekah's brother, so it's better to be on his good side. I would rather it be smooth sailing."

"Okay. So what are you going to do?"

"He asked me a favor to ask you a favor."

She had a pretty good idea of what category the favor would be in, but hoped that she was wrong. She narrowed her eyes. "Okay, shoot."

Stefan closed the drawer carefully and picked up his suitcase to put it in the closet. "Klaus is really protective, but he said that he'd lay off and give Rebekah and me a chance to make it work if _you _gave _him _a chance."

"What—"

"So," Stefan quickly talked over her, "I was hoping that you would be willing to go on a date with him."

"No."

"What?"

"No. Absolutely not. He's a creep, Stefan."

"Care, I know that you don't like him, but I just…I just need this chance with Rebekah. Will you please help?"

"I hate you."

"Is that a yes?"

She glowered at him, but thought idly to herself that Stefan's huge smile was almost worth it. Almost.

* * *

**October 28****th****, 2012**

"Are you ready to go yet?"

"Almost. I just need to grab shoes and a jacket." Caroline called.

She walked out to the front room to put her shoes on and grabbed the keys from the counter. Klaus was sitting on the couch with Stefan, both on their phones, looking completely bored.

"Sorry. We can go now."

Klaus muttered a goodbye, and Caroline locked up behind her and Stefan. They walked downtown and Caroline took in the sights and smells of the city. Though they had been to big cities before on missions, this was really the first time she would be able to explore one, and she couldn't help but feel a little bit excited.

The walk was longer than they expected, and her legs were slightly sore when they arrived at their destination, a large brick building with "Augustine's Bar &amp; Grill" written over the door on a metal sign. The place was almost empty, with an older man in a booth in the corner eating a hamburger, but she could see a blonde man in the bar through the window wiping the countertop with a rag. They made a point of noticing the sign in the window, Caroline gestured to it excitedly, and dragged Stefan into the bar behind her. The bartender looked up as they approached, immediately focusing on Caroline.

"Hi, table for two?"

Caroline pasted on her best smile. "Actually, my brother and I just moved here, and we're looking for jobs. We noticed you had a help wanted sign in the window, so we thought we'd ask for applications." she said, gesturing to Stefan.

"We are."

"Where do we apply?"

"Well, I'd be the one to talk to. My name is Wes, and I own the place. What's your name?"

"I'm Carrie Stones."

"Steve."

Wes tossed the rag on the counter and cocked his head to the side, looking her up and down lasciviously. "Well, we need two more wait staff and a bartender. Do you both have experience?"

She explained the stint she had as a waitress at the local diner in her hometown, and Stefan searched through his pockets and handed Wes the bartending license Caroline had gotten him.

"How soon can you two start?"

Caroline shrugged. "Whenever, I guess."

He nodded. "Can both of you start tomorrow? We're really short-staffed at the moment, so it'd be good to have you as soon as possible."

"Um. Yeah, sure. Do I need to wear any specific clothes or anything?"

"There's no uniform as long as you're presentable. I'm not fussy about that kind of thing. Follow me to my office and we'll talk a bit more. You can ask your questions and sign the forms and all that jazz."

An hour later, Caroline and Stefan had completed the paperwork and had their schedules for the week, Wes preferring to wait on making the tentative long-term ones until he'd seen them work.

"Thanks very much." Caroline said as she and Stefan prepared to leave.

"Of course. See you both tomorrow at four."

* * *

**October 29****th****, 2012**

Klaus dropped them off at the bar at 3:45 and told them that he was going to find a café to sit in while they were at work to listen to the bug Stefan was going to plant.

Stefan and Caroline entered the bar, and Caroline immediately grabbed an apron from the back, tying it on, while Wes waved Stefan over to the bar.

"Carrie, can you make sure all the tables are set? The dinner rush is soon. Steve, I'll show you where everything is."

"Sure," Caroline said.

She started to check the tables, and then wandered over to the kitchen to grab some extra napkins. She heard the kitchen door open and turned to see a young woman with incredibly thick glasses untying her apron.

"Hi, are you new? I know we've been looking for a new waitress," She said brightly, walking over to stick out her hand, her long dark hair swishing behind her, "I'm Megan."

Caroline smiled and they shook hands, "I'm Carrie. I'm just starting today."

"Great to hear. Maggie and I have been having trouble handling everything on our own since Dianne left to have the baby. Speaking of," Megan said, turning to speak to Wes, "Maggie should be here in a few minutes. She texted me that she's running late. Can I head home?"

Wes nodded, and Megan disappeared to the back, returning with a purse and jacket, bundling up to leave. "Well, happy hour's about to start. Hope you're ready," She told Caroline cheerfully, winking.

Caroline forced out a smile. "I hope so too."

**XXX**

The grill she had worked at back in Greensboro had never been this crowded. In fact, Caroline didn't think that she had ever seen a more crowded bar in her life. She flitted between tables, delivering drinks and taking orders while still keeping an ear out for any interesting conversations. It took a lot of multitasking to wait tables alone, but trying to keep track of conversations while she did it was tiring.

She set a tray of cream sodas down for a table of giggling girls in soccer uniforms and looked at the clock. She still had about four hours to go. Sighing to herself, she went to check on a couple that were clearly on an incredibly awkward first date, but was flagged down by Wes on the way.

He had been checking her out all night, and she couldn't say that it was only starting to get irritating—it had passed that point about ten minutes into her shift—but as much as she wanted to, she wasn't going to comment on it. It could be useful to the mission to have him infatuated with her.

It didn't make her any less annoyed about it.

He was quite a bit taller than her, and when she stood in front of him, he seemed to be trying to subtly look down her shirt. She bristled and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What's up?"

"You should take your dinner break. Maggie and I will cover all of your tables, and then she'll be free to go on hers."

"Okay. How long do I have?"

"Half an hour. You can go ahead and order something from the kitchen, but in the future you're welcome to bring dinner with you if you'd rather."

"Is that polite code for asking me to bring dinner with me?"

He laughed. "No. Not at all. You could also grab something from somewhere near here as long as you don't bring the food inside, just so you know there's a Subway across the street, but either way be back by eight-thirty. We close for under-twenty-ones at nine-thirty, and I want to make sure to rush out all the families and teens that are out late by then."

She nodded and decided to take his suggestion and buy something across the street, as that would give her time to check in with Klaus. He had texted her where the café was that he was sitting in, and so she set out at a brisk walk.

She stuck her head into the café and saw Klaus sitting in the armchairs in the corner of the room with a mug of tea, his laptop balanced on his knees.

"I have a half-hour break, so I'm going to Subway. You should come with me so we can talk. Isn't the café closing soon anyway?"

"Yes. They close at 8:15." Klaus said in an eerily accurate American accent.

Caroline frowned.

"I'll be less memorable if I'm American." Klaus said, grinning at her.

She wrinkled her nose and nodded, waving her hand for him to follow her. She started walking to the sandwich shop without a backward glance. The bell chimed above her head as she opened the door, and she ordered at the counter.

"So, I've been thinking—" Klaus began.

"Don't hurt yourself."

"That's both a cliché and unnecessary comeback."

Caroline shrugged.

"Anyway," Klaus continued, "I'm going to be in a relationship with you for this mission."

"Um, I beg your pardon?"

"It will give me an excuse to lurk in the bar, and I will also be able to keep an eye on you without any awkward questions."

"Okay, so number one, nobody says 'lurk' anymore. That's weird. Number two, absolutely not."

"That wasn't optional, Caroline."

"I don't care. It's not happening."

"Well Caroline, it will happen whether you wish it to or not, so you should get used to it. I'd like to remind you that while you are the handler, I still lead this team, and my decision is final."

Caroline munched on her sandwich.

"Fine."

"Excellent."

"But you're not allowed to call me any stupid pet names. Or touch me. Do we have an understanding?"

He grinned, his dimples showing. "Wouldn't dream of it, sweetheart."

She scowled and checked her watch. "I have to go back now. Pick Stefan and I up at midnight."

She turned on her heel and was out the door before he could respond.

**XXX**

Caroline turned off the Open sign and took off her apron. Stefan was buttoning his coat at the front, getting ready to leave. The door opened and Klaus walked in.

"Are you ready to go?"

Caroline didn't think she'd ever get used to the American accent. It sounded so _wrong_.

And it also eliminated half of the good qualities he had possessed pre-accent-butchering.

Wes walked out of the office glancing at her intensely, and Caroline shifted from foot to foot and fiddled with her Travelers ring, completely uncomfortable with the one-sided eye fucking he was giving her, and still trying to decide whether it would compromise the mission to tell him to fuck off.

He glanced at Klaus. "We're closed, sorry."

"Oh. I'm just here to pick up Steve and Carrie."

He threw an arm around her shoulders as though he did it every day. Stefan raised an eyebrow at her, and she gave him an infinitesimal shake of her head. It took every bit of her impulse control to not flinch his arm off.

Wes glanced briefly between the two of them, before giving Klaus a cold smile.

Klaus grinned as though he hadn't noticed the hostility—though Caroline was sure he had—and stuck out his hand for a handshake.

"I'm Nick. Carrie's boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you."

Klaus nodded and immediately rested his hand on the small of her back—he appeared to be milking the fake relationship for everything it was worth. "Let's go babe."

Stefan made a strange choking sound that was definitely his attempt at holding back a laugh (which he turned semi-successfully into a cough) and followed them back to the car.

Klaus held the passenger door open for her and she slipped inside and fastened her seatbelt without even a glance in his direction, yanking the door away from Klaus and slamming it closed harder than was necessary.

Seemingly unfazed, he slid into the driver's seat and started the car, pulling away from the curb.

"You're a dick."

"Am I?"

"Yes. We had rules, and you broke them."

"Really? I don't recall. What were they?"

Caroline sighed loudly, knowing he was just trying to get a reaction but deciding to make her point anyway. "We had a no pet name rule. And a no touching rule."

"Oh, those."

"Yes, _those_."

"I changed my mind."

"You can't just…_change your mind_." Caroline said, spluttering.

"But I did."

Stefan attempted to diffuse the situation. "So, we're working different shifts tomorrow. I was thinking that I could try to get to know Wes a little bit more and figure out if there's a way I can get him to trust me enough to bring me in on the business."

"What times are the two of you working tomorrow?"

"I'm working from four-thirty to midnight until the end of November, and Caroline has the part-time lunch shift for the next week and a half."

"So you're working during the lunch shift on Friday?" Klaus asked, turning to Caroline.

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. "Eyes on the road. And yes, I'm done at four. Although I don't know why that matters."

"I'll pick you up after your shift."

"Why?"

He smirked. "For our date."

"What date?"

"The date you promised me in exchange for Stefan's personal happiness."

"I'm already fake dating you, I think that should be enough. Especially since you don't seem to respect my personal space rule."

"But as you said, it's fake. I was promised a real date."

"Does it have to be this week? We're just settling in."

"Can you think of a better time?"

"Yes, actually. How about never?"

"That wasn't the deal, Caroline."

She grunted in a rather unladylike fashion and saw Stefan shoot her an apologetic look on the rearview mirror.

"'Kay. Friday then."

"Oh, do at least attempt to sound excited, Caroline."

"Yay." Caroline said dryly, picking her nails.

He huffed, but didn't push any further.

They drove in silence for a few minutes. "What'll we be doing?" Caroline asked.

"It's a surprise."

"I hate surprises."

"I know."

He wouldn't respond to any of her questions after that, though to be fair they had been asked quickly without much time in-between for answers. They pulled up into the garage near the apartment building, and Caroline was out the car and up the stairs before Klaus had even left the garage, eager to get out of the late fall chill.

She changed into pajamas and walked back into the kitchen and grabbed a can of sparkling cranberry juice—she had become addicted to the stuff since arriving in Mystic Falls—and plopped down next to Stefan on the couch.

She had heard the shower start to run while she was changing, and figured that this would be the best time to talk to Stefan.

"Do you know what we'll be doing?"

"I have ideas, he asked me what kind of thing you liked, so we'll see."

"Well, what options did you give him? Are we like, going to a movie, or something?"

He gave her a pitying look. "Caroline, you do realize that Friday is Halloween, right?"

"Oh. Shit. I forgot."

"Yeah, I figured that out when you didn't put up a huge fight about it."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I like being alive."

She decided to ignore his lapse in BFF-loyalty for the moment. "Well, what did you tell him I liked? You didn't tell him about what I did in high school every year—"

"No, don't worry, he's not going to take you to Rocky Horror to see you in a corset," Stefan said, patting her on the shoulder in what was probably supposed to be a comforting gesture.

"I hate you." Caroline said, half-heartedly smacking Stefan in the arm with a throw pillow.

"For not telling him about Rocky Horror?"

"No, no. Thank you for that. I just hate you in general. You are so lucky that I like you enough to subject myself to this."

"I thought you hated me. You need to stop changing your mind, you know."

"Go fuck yourself," Caroline mumbled, standing up to throw her can in the recycling and locking herself in her bedroom.

**XXX**

Klaus sat on his bed with his sketchbook on his lap. His pencil moved semi-automatically, and it allowed him to sink into his own thoughts.

Caroline wouldn't take his manipulations lying down, but she would have to agree that the premise of a relationship between them would give him an excuse to lurk in the bar. He would have to make sure not to come on too strongly, though. That was likely to be a mistake, and it would drive her away more than anything else. Perhaps she would be more receptive if he limited his touching to arm around her shoulders and holding hands. He would have to be subtle. Either which way, the whole display would be particularly effective considering the bartender's not-so-subtle leering.

As a general rule he didn't like anyone, but there were definitely certain people he disliked more than others. Wes had quickly slotted himself in his current top 50 list of Klaus's least favorite people. The man shouldn't be looking at Caroline—his Caroline—the way he was.

He had originally intended to bed Caroline and immediately demand a new handler. It would have been easy enough as he had been demanding new handlers constantly for the last few years. But she had somehow wormed her way into his mind and seemed to not have the decency to leave. He doubted that she was an itch he could scratch, or that he could get her out of his system easily. He was left with two options: Keep her with him in the long term, or kill her.

Whichever option he ended up choosing, although he had a funny feeling that he had already decided on the former, it didn't matter if she ended up in a trophy case or six feet under. Caroline was his.

His pencil scratched against the heavy paper, and he frowned when he looked at it. The picture had started off as an interestingly shaped bottle of vodka that caught his eye behind the counter of Augustine's, but it had somehow morphed into Caroline. The moment he had captured was one from memory. It had been on one of their last missions when Damon was still with them.

By that point, Caroline had somehow taken on both the role of a handler and the bait. She had been uncomfortable with the idea from the beginning, but had slowly realized that it wasn't a very risky position. She was the siren that led the targets to their deaths, not the monster behind the rock. For all of Damon's faults, Klaus had to admit that the idea was a good one. Caroline was the perfect little blonde distraction.

Even if she wasn't strictly supposed to be.

In the particular moment in time he was capturing on paper, she had stood in the doorway to the hotel room; her hands crossed over her chest with a thoroughly unimpressed look on her face after a rude comment from Damon. The fire in her eyes combined with the way the silver dress clung to her reminded him of an angry queen glaring at an incompetent minion, and that split second had been imprinted on his mind forever.

He idly began to shade the angles of her face. He would need to be careful with her. Friday was his "make-or-break" opportunity, and he couldn't fuck it up. He had figured out months ago that coming on too strongly would just push her away.

Caroline needed to come to him in her own time. It would be difficult, and require a huge amount of patience, but the reward he would eventually reap would be worth it. He needed to get her to enjoy herself enough to make her forget that the date was somewhat forced.

Klaus smirked to himself, adding the details to her long legs and delicate fingers. He would pick her up the next day and tell her a little bit more about his plan. He wanted to sate her curiosity enough that she wouldn't unnecessarily worry herself while still keeping it somewhat of a surprise. She definitely trusted him to an extent. She didn't think that he would ever hurt her—he wouldn't—but she also seemed to think that he wanted to take advantage of the situation. Admittedly he did, but he wouldn't follow through on it. She needed to feel safe, which meant that he needed to be clear that he didn't expect the date to have any sexual component.

Perhaps he could use the opportunity of stopping by the bar to irritate Wes. He had a strange feeling that terrorizing the bartender would become one of his new favorite pastimes.

* * *

**A/N: So basically I'm terrible at limit-setting. I originally intended to update this once-a-week, and I'm trying to hold myself to that, but it's kind of hard when I'm getting such nice reviews XD  
****I'm happy that you guys are enjoying this. The only way writers get better is with feedback, so keep up those reviews ;)  
****The outfits for this chapter are on polyvore. I can't remember if I've said this, but there are a few tiny spoilers in the outfit descriptions. There isn't anything too serious, and I doubt it'll give much away, but I just wanted to put the disclaimer.  
Anyway, thanks so much for reading :D  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	6. Halloween

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews/follows/favorites! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it.  
Just a note: I wrote this in early July, meaning that this season of TVD hadn't come out yet. I now feel kind-of-psychic :P  
Thank you wondygal for your mad beta skills :)  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**October 30****th****, 2012**

"So, who's this Nick guy?"

Stefan inwardly rolled his eyes. The fact that Wes was obsessed with Caroline had not escaped anyone (he didn't really understand what it was about his best friend that attracted all the criminal nutjobs) and the other man was obviously trying to get information about her and Klaus's relationship.

Realizing that this would be an excellent time to fill out a plausible backstory—knowing that Caroline hadn't really told Wes much about herself—he decided to capitalize on the opportunity.

"Nick's been my best friend since middle school."

"Oh. It must have been hard when he and Carrie started dating."

"Not really. I mean, it was better than her dating some guy I didn't know, I guess. Carrie and I are barely two years apart, so Nick and I were only a grade higher. I wasn't exactly happy about it in the beginning, especially since they got together after the drug phase he and I went through in high school, but she's always had a thing for guys that need fixing. Drives me nuts."

"They've been together since high school?"

"They got together in her senior year, so about two years ago. She was the one who straightened us both out, really."

Wes raised his eyebrows. "I wouldn't have taken you for the druggie type."

Stefan shrugged. "I had a lot more trouble staying sober than Nick has, but they're both really supportive. I'm a lot better now than I used to be. One of the reasons we moved here was so that I could have a fresh start. I've been sober for six months now."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks."

There was silence for a few moments as Stefan went back to making sure there were enough glasses behind the bar.

"They seem happy."

Stefan nodded.

"They are."

**XXX**

"You absolute _ass!_" Caroline screamed.

Klaus heard a cabinet door slam shut in the kitchen and her melodramatic stomping approach the living room.

He looked up from his sketchpad to see her in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest, looking supremely irritated.

"Can I help you, sweetheart?'

"Why don't we have any dishes?"

"Did you check the dishwasher?"

"Yes, and they're all dirty. The ones in the sink are, too. I thought I told you this morning to load and run the dishwasher while I was at work."

"I forgot."

She gave him what had to have been the most perfect mix of an exasperated eye roll and a death glare he had ever seen.

"You _forgot?_"

"Yes. When Stefan gets back tonight, perhaps he can do it."

"You're joking, right?" Caroline asked, her hands on her hips in what seemed to be the universal "angry woman" position.

"Why can't you do it?"

"Do I _look_ like I do dishes?"

"Well, Stefan does them at our house so I'm about as qualified in this department as you."

"Look, Klaus, I mean this in the nicest possible way, but Stefan and I both are working and you aren't. Despite the fact that we are undercover, I still have to wait tables, and he still has to bartend. When we get home, we're tired. You, on the other hand, don't do anything all day besides listen to recordings of people whining about their problems to Stefan. Do the fucking dishes."

"No," Klaus said, returning to his sketch.

"Klaus, when we got here, we agreed that we'd all pick up after ourselves. And anyway, how long does it take to rinse off your dishes and put them in the dishwasher? Like, three seconds."

"First of all, _you _agreed to pick up after yourself. Stefan and I never said a word. Second, from what you say the dishes could have been in the dishwasher by this point if you hadn't come to harass me about it."

The sketchbook was torn out of his hands. He used the nanosecond between watching the book fly across the room onto the floor near the bookshelf and listening to Caroline scream at him to reflect that it was probably best that she hadn't looked at the half-finished sketch of her eating ice cream in the light of the television.

"It's the principle of the whole thing. Go do it. Now."

He grumbled and got up from the couch, walking towards the kitchen. She was incredibly lucky that he was rather fond of her. Well, he didn't know what exactly "fond" was supposed to feel like, but he was sure that this feeling was at least in a related category.

He heard some rustling behind him, and Caroline called after him that he needed to go grocery shopping as well, and there was a list on the counter.

"Why do we need to go grocery shopping?"

"Because we literally have a bag of carrots, two slices of turkey, and two microwave meals that Stefan won't eat."

This was news to him. He had very rarely seen Stefan refuse to eat any kind of food. Rebekah had once compared him rather fondly to a very polite and broody goat.

"Fine."

He turned the sink on, and felt her come up beside him.

"Caroline, I'm doing the dishes, and I said I'd go grocery shopping. What more do you want from me?"

"I was just going to say thanks."

Klaus made a non-committal noise and shooed her away, starting to rinse off a large pot.

He heard the TV turn on, and the background music and raised voices of some terrible reality show, occasionally followed by Caroline's giggles.

He had just started the stupid dish-cleaning contraption when he heard Caroline gasp in the next room. Figuring that Snacky (or whatever-her-name-is) had had some sort of confrontation with a situation again (Rebekah seemed to think that this 'situation' was a person, but he had no interest in investigating the matter), he grabbed the grocery list and wandered in to ask her about whether he should also buy some eggs, or if she had excluded them on purpose. When she didn't answer, he looked up to see her holding his sketchbook, looking through it, wide-eyed. Her face was slightly flushed.

"That's private," he snapped, grabbing it out of her hands.

"Sorry," she said weakly.

"You should be." He walked to his room and threw it on his bed, trying to calm himself. When he returned, the TV was off, and Caroline was sitting on the couch, apparently waiting for him.

They stared at each other for a moment. "I'm really, really sorry. I know I shouldn't have looked in it, but I saw the first picture of me after a bunch of other stuff and I just kept flipping through it. I didn't mean to invade your privacy, but like, you're really good, and it's just—"

"Caroline."

"I'm sorry."

"Caroline," he talked over her, "I'm not going to say that I'm not angry with you, because I am, but there's nothing to be done about it now. I'm leaving. I need to be alone."

He had grabbed his wallet and pulled on his jacket when he heard Caroline softly call his name.

He turned around. "What?" He said irritably.

"Do you…" She trailed off.

He raised his eyebrows. "Do I…?"

He waited, and when it was clear that she didn't know how to continue, he started to turn around to leave.

"Why do you draw me?" Caroline said in a rush, blushing again.

He didn't know what to say. She would probably find the true explanation ("Because no matter what I try to draw, it always ends up being you anyway") more than a little creepy. He didn't want to ruin any progress he had made with her by saying the wrong thing. He settled for just shaking his head.

"Why wouldn't I draw you?"

He left before she could answer.

* * *

**October 31****st****, 2012**

Caroline pulled into the space a few yards down from the bar, inwardly cheering at her excellent parking luck. She got out, deciding not to bother putting on her coat for the five feet it would take to get into the bar door, and slung her bag over her shoulder. When she entered the bar, Megan pressed a headband with a little halo attached to it into her hand.

Caroline wrinkled her nose and then looked at Megan, who was adjusting her plastic tiara. "Seriously?"

"Sorry, you were the last one here, so Maggie and I got first pick," Megan said, gesturing to the other girl who was wearing a pinstriped fedora.

"It's okay," Caroline said, shrugging. She worked the headband into her hair, careful not to tangle her curls.

They began to set up for the lunch shift, and carefully setting the tables was always monotonous, but she was slightly thankful for the task. It gave her time to think, and she needed that.

There was something inherently creepy about Klaus's sketchbook being half-full of pictures of her. She had acknowledged long ago that he liked her (although she honestly thought he was dangerously close to an obsession at this point), but she didn't understand why. Yes, she argued with him and stood up to him, and he hadn't killed her yet so she must be doing something right, but she wasn't really all that special besides that. At least, she didn't think so.

Yes, he was an arrogant asshole, but would it really be that awful to give him a chance?

Yes, actually it would. He was a mass murderer, and she had no business dating one of those. Even if Stefan was one, too.

And she had promised Stefan that she'd try anyway, and really the worst that could happen was her deciding he wasn't worth it. And she had noticed that despite his generally unpleasant personality he could be nice when he wanted to be.

Because _that _didn't sound like the first step to an abusive relationship.

Her musings continued for most of the afternoon. She finished setting up tables, and pasted on her best smile.

At thirty minutes until they closed between lunch and dinner, she had just delivered a plate of pasta to a girl in a corner booth and started heading in the direction of a couple with a child, pulling out her notepad and a pen. Before she had arrived at their table, she saw a motion of dirty blonde curls out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Klaus seat himself at the bar. She had made up her mind the day before that if she had to act, she would do the best damn job she could. Caroline Forbes didn't do anything half-assed, and she didn't intend to start now. Plus, it was a perfect opportunity to make Wes stop hitting on her, and since she had to spend about six hours of time in Wes's presence every day relative to the half hour she spent being Klaus's fake girlfriend in public, it was the perfect strategy. It was also convenient that she could be as annoying as she wanted, because if she couldn't break character, neither could he. She turned to the family waiting patiently for her to speak.

"Hello, my name is Carrie and I'll be helping you out today. Our specials for the day are cream of potato soup and grilled chicken-pesto sandwich. Can I get you started with some drinks?"

**XXX**

Stefan Salvatore was aware that he had more than a few less-than-positive qualities, but he liked to believe that 'stupid' was not one of them. He was therefore inwardly kicking himself every time he saw Klaus look at Caroline. He should never have agreed to ask Caroline to go on a date with Klaus. He was a terrible friend.

However, listening to Katerina's lecture (ten minutes straight so far, and she seemed to be gaining steam) on why Caroline would be the best choice for Klaus and vice-versa made him feel a little bit better about himself. At least Katerina was more delusional than he was.

He sat in the coffee shop with the phone pressed to his ear and sipped his coffee.

"Look, I understand that you're worried about her, who wouldn't be? But, you have to admit that Klaus probably won't give up on her until he gets what he wants."

"That's true, but the women he pursues generally end up dead," Stefan said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well, Elijah and I both think that this is more than a chase. Elijah says that he hasn't ever seen Klaus so interested in someone, and you know that when Klaus actually decides that he likes someone—" Stefan inwardly snorted at the concept of Klaus genuinely liking anyone, "—they generally stay safe, no matter what."

"Yes, but what if he doesn't like her, then she'll be dead, and I for one am not in favor of that outcome."

"Well, I think that he does like her. Plus, she might be good for him. He seems to calm down when she's around—"

"Because he wants to get into her pants!"

"No, _listen _to me. You have to admit that he's been a lot calmer the past few months. No one's gotten seriously injured besides Damon, and let's be real here, no one likes Damon except for my saintly sister."

"I do."

"Oh please, if he wasn't your brother, would you like him?"

"I'd like to think I would."

Katerina snorted. "Whatever. In any case, Klaus seems like he's changed for the better, and if having sex with Caroline will keep him this way I vote we lock her in his bedroom forever."

"Well, clearly you aren't in the correct mindset to be voting, Kat."

"I was _kidding_," Katerina reassured him unconvincingly, "I'm usually right though, and I can tell their relationship will work, and then not only will Caroline and Klaus be happy and no one will have a Klaus-related injury, but I'll have more bathroom space."

"I still say you're nuts."

"Look, just _trust_ me." Kat whined.

Stefan sighed. "If it'll make you stop whining."

"Great! Keep me posted on how they are. And tell Caroline to call me, she hasn't yet, and I want to get my dirt from the source."

"Yep." _Nope, _he thought inwardly.

"Take care of yourself, Stef."

"Will do, Kat."

The line went dead without a goodbye, typical Kat, and Stefan let his head fall onto the café table. No matter what Kat said, he was pretty sure that he had fucked up big time.

_Well, _his inner Caroline-voice said optimistically, _maybe it'll work out. You never know._

**XXX**

"Nick. What can I get you?"

"Do you have a bar menu?"

Wes shook his head. "Anything you can get at the booths you can get at the bar."

"Excellent. I'd like a pub burger please, and whatever's on tap."

He cringed inwardly at the cheap beer and burger combination, and Wes went off to put the order in.

He watched Caroline out of the corner of his eye as she put the family's order into the kitchen, and was surprised when she headed towards him. He observed her as she approached, glad that she had heeded his advice and dressed comfortably for their outing that night.

He grinned as he reached up to jerk the spring of the headband in her hair, snatching his hand away from it before she could scratch it.

"Nice headband."

"What are you doing here? I'm working." She said, ignoring his compliment.

"I was hungry."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I only have about thirty minutes till I'm done for the day. You couldn't have waited?"

He shrugged. "I wanted to see you."

She gave him a gag face before Wes could see it.

"Do you want the burger to-go?" Wes asked, apparently having just come back.

"Sure, thanks." Caroline said, smiling.

"No problem."

She turned back to Klaus. "I have to get back to work. I'll meet you in a few minutes, okay?"

"Of course."

He leaned up to kiss her, and she turned her face so that his kiss ended up on her cheek. He scowled, but she gave him a flirty grin. "I'm working, that would be unprofessional."

She sauntered away, and Wes put a mug of beer in front of him.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Do you and Carrie have plans for tonight?"

"Yes, actually."

"What are you two up to? There's a huge party every year a few streets away. Megan and I are headed there after we close up tonight."

He saw Caroline suddenly perk up, and he knew she was listening.

"I told Carrie it was a surprise, I wouldn't want to ruin it for her." He could practically feel the eye roll lingering in the air between them.

"That's too bad, it would have been nice to have you two there."

Klaus shrugged. "I don't like crowds. Steve might go, though, if you ask."

"I'll do that," Wes said.

Klaus sipped his beer. "Who's Megan?" He asked.

Wes pointed at the twiggy-looking hipster girl with the tiara. "That's Meg."

"How long have you two been dating?"

Wes laughed. "No, no. It's not like that. We went to middle school together, been friends ever since."

"Well, I know that Carrie's been hoping to make some female friends. I think she's pretty sick of Steve and me already. Perhaps we could go somewhere next week. We haven't even really started to explore the city yet."

"Sure, we'd be honored."

They made some small talk in between Wes's work, and he had just given Klaus his paper box with the burger when Caroline walked up to them, adjusting her coat around herself, and waved to Wes as she pulled him out the door with her.

"How did you get here?" She asked, unlocking the car doors and scoffing when he got in the driver's side before she could.

"I walked down with Stefan. He's getting some lunch before his shift."

"In this weather? I said you didn't have to come get me."

"I wanted to. This way I can drive you straight to where we're going. It's a ways away."

"How long?" She asked, clearly trying to decide how much she should complain about the drive.

"About an hour and a half or so. Probably a bit longer, since it's Halloween and there's traffic."

She nodded, and buckled up as he carefully pulled out of the space. He smiled to himself, watching her visibly restraining herself from asking a question. They couldn't have been on the road for more than five minutes before she cracked.

"Where are we going? Hey, don't smile at me like that, it's a legitimate question."

"We're driving to Lancaster. I was going to take you to dinner."

"That's it?"

He smirked. "Glad to know you're anxious to spend more time with me."

"In your dreams."

"Not for long, I'm sure."

"_Seriously_?"

"In any case, Stefan told me that you enjoyed going to the cornfield maze near your hometown. That one's obviously a long drive, so I thought I'd take you to one closer to here."

It had taken him a good half hour to wheedle that information out of Stefan, and judging by the way her face lit up he was particularly proud that he had managed to find something she would enjoy.

One of the things he liked most about Caroline was her varied collection of expressions. She was generally rather easy to read—which she'd have to fix eventually if she was to continue in this line of work—and he had never known a person who was quite so openly expressive with an emotion that was not disgust (Katerina), self-righteous passing of judgment (Bonnie), or wide-eyed confusion (Elena).

The drive was also a convenient way to trap her into conversation for a rather extended period of time.

"I take it that you're happy with my choice?"

She quickly wiped the grin off of her face. "It's okay, I guess."

"Well, I've never been to one before. What were they like in your hometown?"

"Really? Never?"

"Really, never."

Caroline smiled and shrugged. "Well, the mazes in my town changed every year. There were years when they wouldn't let anyone under thirteen go, and there were years where they tried to keep it less terrifying. April and I always had a lot of fun. Sometimes Stefan would be around and he'd come too."

"April?"

"Yeah, she was my best friend. I should probably call her at some point, actually."

No, she really shouldn't, unless she still had her old cell phone. The Travelers provided all their agents with a work phone, and hardly any of them had a reason to have a personal phone, since they had mostly grown up within the organization or joined at a young age. Stefan was the only exception to the rule that he knew of, probably only because of Caroline, but that didn't mean that there weren't more agents with similar arrangements.

He decided against informing her of this, and resolved to text Stefan about it later. Stefan was more tactful, and Caroline was less likely to have a tantrum.

Caroline seemed to have a tantrum about many things he found unworthy of having any feelings attached to. An example of this would be the dishes incident. He didn't understand why she was so upset. When he commented on the fact that she was wasting time by asking him to do the dishes, she yelled at him. When he pointed out that he never agreed to do the dishes, she yelled at him. She seemed to yell at him constantly, and half the time he wasn't sure what he did wrong. He didn't have much experience with women yelling at him—none that he had ever met had successfully raised their voice at him for more than thirty seconds without ending up unable to talk—except Rebekah, and he had gotten into the habit of tuning her out at this point in his life.

"Did you meet her in school?"

"Yeah. Stefan, April, and I were really close until Stefan went to 'boarding school'"—she made finger-quotes—"and then we ended up getting a lot closer because of that."

"I see."

"We did gymnastics together. She was a cheerleader for awhile, but her dad passed away and she had to cut down on activities."

"Were you a cheerleader as well?"

Caroline laughed. "I was captain of the cheerleading team. I was also head of the dance committee and organized most of the town events. I didn't actually grow up in Greensboro, which I'm sure you know because of Stefan. We lived in a really tiny town."

"Did you enjoy it?"

He could see it in his minds eye, Caroline ordering around half the school while they acted as her minions to complete whatever task she had set them.

"Yeah. I like organizing things. I'm almost positive that they won't be able to find someone to organize the next town event as well as I can. I've been doing it since the beginning of high school, and I think they started to take me for granted."

There was a pause for a few moments, but Caroline could never stand silence for long, so she filled it.

"Where did you live? As a kid, I mean."

He debated answering the question for a moment and came to the conclusion that she wouldn't trust him if he didn't start offering information about his past. And where he had grown up was relatively harmless. If he was careful about it, he could probably steer the conversation away from him personally and towards the role of children in the organization.

"My siblings and I moved here from the branch in England after my father left us. I was eight."

"Your father left you?" She seemed to immediately realize the weight of the question, and rushed on, blushing, "Sorry. That's a personal question."

"It's all right. You'd figure it out eventually anyway, I suppose. My mother had an affair with another man, and my father found out. He stayed for a few years, but he left after a particularly nasty fight that they had. He's a vindictive man, and my mother decided to relocate the family for our safety."

"Oh."

'_Oh,' indeed._

There was more silence for a few moments before Caroline asked, "Are you close with your siblings?"

"I suppose it depends what you mean by 'close'."

"Do you spend much time with them?"

He shrugged. "I most likely spend the most time with Rebekah. Elijah is often unavailable in meetings, Finn is purposefully unavailable at all times, and Kol is so wrapped up in the Bennett girl that I doubt he'd notice if I'd died."

"Is that why you're so protective of her?"

There was a beat of silence while Klaus considered his answer.

"I am protective of all those that I deem worthy of it," he said slowly, taking time to word his answer. It was true. Rebekah was the sibling he spent the most time with, but that didn't mean that was apathetic to the condition of his other siblings.

"I guess that it's nice that you care that much about her. I never had any siblings, sometimes I feel like I missed out."

He wouldn't say he _cared _so much as was invested in their safety. He enjoyed having them around, and they were useful. He still wasn't all that sure what was involved in "caring" for someone. He had asked Rebekah once when they were younger—which resulted in him never expressing any feelings he may or may not have had to her again—and she had informed him that the concept of 'caring' involved genuine concern for the physical _and _emotional well-being of another person regardless of their use to you.

He had told her that this whole 'caring' business seemed like a rather large amount of work. She hadn't spoken to him for a week.

He had learned to equate the concept of caring for someone with protectiveness, and while he wouldn't wipe his siblings off of the face of the earth if he had a choice, he wasn't exactly thankful he had them. Quite honestly, he wouldn't recommend having siblings to anyone.

"You _definitely _didn't miss out."

She smiled slightly. "If you say so."

They rode in comfortable silence for a few minutes, and then moved on to small talk. He asked her more about her childhood and successfully evaded her questions about his own. They were just discussing her participation in the local beauty pageant when he realized that they were in the neighborhood of their destination.

"We're coming up on our exit," Klaus said, changing the subject.

"Okay. I'm going to text Stefan to make sure he's still alive."

About fifteen minutes later, Klaus had parked in front of a small Italian restaurant, and helped her out of the car, shutting the door firmly behind her. He offered his arm and she gave him a cold look, seeming to remember why they were there together.

Sighing at her stubbornness, he led her to the restaurant door, which he held open for her, and the host looked up from the podium.

"Two for dinner, please." Klaus said, trying his best to be polite.

He had spoken to Rebekah earlier that day, and she had reminded him that politeness and common courtesy went a long way. Well, she actually had said something to the effect of "Try to be a decent human being for once in your life," but he understood the message.

The waiter led them to a table, and Caroline sat down, immediately spreading the napkin over her lap and accepting the menu from the server, thanking him politely.

Klaus followed her example, and she raised an eyebrow at him. He ignored her and looked at the menu.

**XXX**

Caroline inhaled the smell of farmland, and let a grin overtake her face. Despite her present company, she was really looking forward to the corn maze. Klaus handed over the bills to the guy at the entrance and she immediately dragged him forward. He followed her around, and teased her when she had let out a squeak at the sudden noise and appearance of a guy in a grim reaper costume.

She laughed with him, though. She was actually enjoying herself, which was a surprise to her.

After half an hour of wandering around, they still weren't done, and she could tell that Klaus was getting restless. He had just been following her the entire time, and hadn't really made any move to direct them.

"Do you want to lead for a bit?"

"No, it won't be any fun for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He smirked. "I could get us out of here in about ten minutes."

She snorted. "Yeah right. I'm sure you're as lost as I am."

He shrugged. "I'll keep following you. Just let me know when you're ready to leave."

"That's ridiculous. You won't even _try_?"

"It wouldn't be trying," he said, irritably.

She rolled her eyes and stomped in what she thought was the general direction of the exit, grumbling to herself. Klaus fell into step with her, and she glared at him.

They walked for about fifteen more minutes, Klaus trying to start a conversation with her every few minutes and her studiously ignoring him. He finally sighed and turned to her.

"You seem done. Do you want to go?"

"Do you really honestly think you could get us out of here in ten minutes?"

"Yes. I do."

"That's ridiculous."

He smirked. "Want to bet on it?"

He was so arrogant. She couldn't help feeling like there was something she wasn't aware of, and so she shook her head.

"No, but I'd like to see it."

He shrugged. "Follow me."

He strode determinately in the opposite direction.

"Why are you going this way?"

"Because this is the way to the exit."

"No, it's not, the exit's that way."

"Look, you asked me to get us out, so I am."

She snorted and followed him.

Sure enough, about eight minutes later they were at the exit.

"How did you _do _that?"

"Well, we're on a mission. I couldn't exactly take you to do something where there was a possibility of us getting lost and not being able to get back if something happened to Stefan. I memorized the maze layout."

"Seriously?"

"I wanted to make sure we'd be safe," he said, shrugging.

She heard a few giggles to their left and turned to see a group of teenage girls. A few of them were clearly drunk, and judging by the subject matter of their conversation, Caroline was almost positive that they didn't realize how loudly they were talking.

"I dare you to walk up and kiss him," one of them slurred.

"Yeah, Katie, do it."

"No," a girl in the middle—clearly Katie—whined, "I don't want to."

"Do it!" All the other girls repeated, among giggles.

"Fine."

Katie walked in their direction, swaying awkwardly every step, and Caroline realized that she was headed towards Klaus. Klaus looked alarmed, but Caroline smiled evilly and grabbed his hand, which surprised him enough that he stayed in place for the split second the girl needed to get to them. However, she was about a step and a half away when she suddenly leaned forward and vomited on the ground right in front of them, quite a bit of it splattering onto Klaus's jeans.

Katie's friends howled with laughter, and Klaus looked murderous. Caroline sensed that the other girl was about to have a near-death experience, and immediately dragged Klaus away.

He was grinding his teeth together, and she ruthlessly suppressed her laughter. "Why don't we find a bathroom so you can clean up?"

"Disgusting as it is, I can handle a bit of vomit. We need to leave. It's almost ten, and we probably won't be back for another hour."

"Okay. I think I have some disinfectant wipes in the car."

"Eternally prepared, aren't you?"

She shrugged.

"If I had known that you were going to get spewed on by a drunk teenager I would have left them at home."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! So, Kat is campaigning for Klaroline, but Stefan is unsure. Caroline sees a little bit of Klaus's humanity ;)  
Outfits are on polyvore, as usual.  
The only way a writer gets better is with feedback, so keep those reviews coming! I am so happy that you guys are enjoying this :)  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	7. Good Tea

**A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so, so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! **

**So. I have AMAZING news, which is that Safehouse has been nominated for fic of the month at Klaroline Magazine (so you should go vote for it, and if you haven't read it, read it and then vote for it).  
Thank you wondygal for beta-ing this. You are fabulous.**

**Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**November 3****rd****, 2012**

Stefan, true to his word to Katerina, had been keeping an eye on the developments between Caroline and Klaus. The date seemed to have gone well, and Caroline gleefully had told him that Klaus had been the accidental target of a drunk teenager's vomit. Klaus seemed to have been undisturbed by the incident, and when Stefan asked him about it, Klaus said that other people's blood was more dangerous, and as he'd been covered by that dozens of times, he really had no reason to be worried about it.

Then he added that just because it wasn't dangerous didn't mean that it wasn't disgusting, and that if Caroline hadn't seen the incident the girl would probably have had an "accident."

As of now, Stefan could tentatively admit that Katerina had a point. However, that didn't mean that he had to be happy about it.

He sighed, continuing to wipe the counter down with the rag. Even when he was bartending, Wes was always around doing something. Sometimes he was waiting tables, other times he was just wandering around making sure everything was going smoothly. Stefan knew that Wes wasn't even close to ready to include him in the ring yet, but they were getting shorter on time, and there hadn't been much progress in the last few days. The contracted assignment was to figure out what was going on and eliminate the threat. He would talk to Caroline and Klaus about it first, but he thought that it might be time to "accidentally" discover what was going on. He just needed to figure out a way to stumble on the information without it seeming contrived.

**XXX**

**November 4****th****, 2012**

Caroline hated the two hours before the end of her shift, which luckily was almost over. The lunch rush was over after one-thirty or so, and that left her and Wes alone in the bar. After he had found out about Klaus he had been less obvious about his ogling, but he still did it, and frankly she'd had enough.

Luckily, today he seemed to be in a pensive mood, which included staying in his office in the back and not paying any attention to her. She busily cleared off the tables and started to re-set them for the dinner shift.

Just as she checked the clock and saw that it was the end of her shift, Klaus walked in. He walked over to her, his hands in his pockets, and before she realized what was happening his lips were on hers for a brief, chaste kiss.

She blinked.

"Ready to go?"

She nodded and followed him outside, where he told her that Stefan was waiting at the café. Caroline walked beside him, silently stewing.

"Why did you kiss me? That was an invasion of my space."

"To keep up appearances."

"Wes wasn't even in the room."

"No, but the cook in the kitchen that was prepping for dinner could see us."

She glared at him. He was right, which made the whole thing worse.

They entered the café, and Stefan was at a table near the back waiting for them. Caroline sank down on the seat across from him, and Stefan pushed a steaming cup towards her.

She sipped the hot chocolate contentedly while Stefan told them about his plan.

"I'm going to leave my keys in the bar tonight. I'll wait near the bar until one—that's when the shipments usually come in, right Klaus? Good. I'll come back and say I forgot my keys. I'll keep you updated with texts."

"All right, we'll wait around here. Text us every fifteen minutes, okay?"

"Yes, Mother."

Caroline grinned at him, and then got knocked in the face by Klaus's elbow as he reached for the napkin dispenser on the table to sneeze.

"Ouch! What the hell, Klaus. That hurt."

Seeming to sense the bickering that was coming up, Stefan quickly excused himself before Klaus could reply.

"Sorry," Klaus mumbled before coughing again.

"It's fine. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

His voice was a bit scratchy, and Caroline gave him a wary look before getting up to order a scone.

* * *

**November 5****th****, 2012**

Stefan carefully set his keys on the shelf under the bar, buttoned up his coat and called a goodbye to Wes over his shoulder. He had found a good place to sit before his shift, and he headed there, cursing the fact that midnight in Philadelphia was freezing. He fiddled with his coat button to turn on the microphone and the camera, before settling himself in the bushes.

An hour later, Wes still hadn't left the bar, and Stefan was conflicted about whether he should retrieve his keys. It would soon be too late for him to have believably realized he had forgotten them, he was already pushing it, but he could only use the excuse once.

Deciding to wait until the next day, he got up and carefully slipped away. He hadn't gotten more than a few feet before he nearly bumped into Megan, who was carrying a sealed cardboard box.

"Hi Steve. What are you doing here? Aren't you off?"

"I forgot my keys, I was just going to check to see if I left them here."

She frowned. "Oh. Okay. Well, Wes is still there. I'm sure he'll let you in to check."

"Thanks."

Now trapped in the story, he had to go to the bar to get his keys. He tried the door and was surprised to find it unlocked. He sensed someone else in the room, but tried not to show it. He walked behind the counter to grab his keys, and was not at all surprised when he saw Wes walk around the corner with a gun. He immediately put his hands up in the air.

"Why do you have a gun?" Stefan asked, trying to make his voice shake believably.

Wes considered him for a moment, and put the gun down. "Follow me," he ordered, leading Stefan to the back room.

As Stefan followed, he reflected that Wes was clearly not the brightest person in the world. Stefan would have never turned his back on a threat.

He put on his best poker face—which was easy considering that he had what Caroline called "a resting bitch face"—and sat down in front of Wes's desk.

"So, what's going on?"

"Nothing. I thought you were a burglar. Why are you here?"

_More like you thought I was a cop_, Stefan thought to himself.

"I left my keys at the bar. Megan said to come get them."

"Oh. Well, why don't you grab them and—"

A young blonde boy stuck his head in the door. "Wes, the delivery's here, but they didn't bring the hard stuff—Oh." The boy stopped when he noticed Stefan.

"The hard stuff?" Stefan asked, turning to Wes.

Wes seemed to deliberate with himself, and gave Stefan an assessing look. "Can you keep a secret?"

Stefan snorted. "Of course."

_But not yours._

**XXX**

Caroline was minding her own business eating yogurt in bed with her laptop sitting precariously in front of her while she watched cat videos on the Internet, when she heard the door to Klaus's room fly open and the bathroom door slam shut, and then retching noises.

Stefan had returned early that morning to inform them that he had been included in the ring and then promptly fell asleep on the couch after having been awake for almost twenty-four hours straight. She hoped that Klaus wasn't going to wake him up, because a tired Stefan was a grumpy Stefan.

She heard footsteps that indicated that Klaus was returning to his room, and she settled back into her bed, preparing to return to adorable kittens following the dots from laser pointers.

Unfortunately, she was disturbed minutes later by hacking coughs from next door. Frustrated, she climbed out of bed and padded to Klaus's bedroom door, knocking and entering without waiting for him to say anything.

Klaus was sitting on his bed sketching something with the garbage can sitting next to his bed filled with tissues.

"Are you feeling okay?"

His eyes flicked up at her before returning to his sketchbook. "I'll live."

She walked up to him and reached out her hand to feel his forehead, but he batted it away impatiently. "I'm fine."

This declaration was followed by another cough.

"Obviously you're the picture of health," Caroline said dryly.

He glared at her.

"Just let me take your temperature, okay?"

He nodded, clearly realizing that she wouldn't drop it until she succeeded.

Two minutes later she was inspecting the thermometer, which proclaimed him to have a fever of 102 degrees.

"You need to rest."

He stared at her stonily, saying nothing.

"Let me get you some more blankets."

She returned with blankets and an extra pillow to see him calmly sketching.

"You need to rest. You should put the sketchbook down and change into something more comfortable."

"I'm _fine, _Caroline."

She dropped the blankets on the bed and rested her hands on her hips, ready to begin a lecture on the importance of rest during sickness, but he cut her off.

"Fine, I'll change and get some rest. You should go."

"Okay. When I get back you'd better be in bed attempting to sleep."

He swung himself out of bed, and that was enough for her as she left him to change. She went to the kitchen and put some water in the microwave before turning to Stefan, who was stirring on the couch.

"Wass goin' on?" He mumbled.

"Klaus is sick. I'm going to stay home to help him. I need to call Wes to tell him."

"'Kay." Stefan mumbled, burying his face back into his pillow.

"Should I wake you up an hour before your shift?"

Stefan grunted into the pillow, which she took for an affirmative. She poured the boiling water into a cup and added a teabag. She grabbed a coaster from the coffee table and walked into Klaus's room to find him sitting up against the pillows, still sketching.

She set the tea down on the bedside table and turned around, plucking the sketchbook out of his hands.

"What are you doing?"

"You need sleep. Should I come check on you in half an hour?"

"I'm an extremely light sleeper, you'll just wake me up."

She huffed. "I'll check on you tonight then."

"All right," he said, settling back into the pillows and closing his eyes.

She left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

She pulled out her phone, silently cursing to herself that Klaus was ruining her only day off, and dialed the bar.

"Hi, you've reached Augustine's Bar and Grill. My name is Megan, how I can I help you?"

"Hey Meg, Nick is sick and I need to stay home with him for a few days. Can you let Wes know?"

"Yeah, of course. That sucks, Carrie, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Steve will be there tonight as usual though."

"Great! Hope he gets better soon."

"Me too."

She hung up and turned to Stefan, who was still dozing on the couch. He had about two hours before she was going to wake him up, and she decided to use the time to call Katerina. She wandered back into her room and flopped back onto her bed, pressing Katerina's contact number and waiting for her friend to pick up.

"Hey, Care."

"Hi, Kat. How's everything?"

"Peachy, besides Rebekah sulking seventy-five percent of the time because Stefan's gone."

"That sounds annoying."

"You have no idea."

After a general update on how everyone else was doing, Katerina asked how the mission was going. Though Caroline couldn't say much, she did tell Katerina that Klaus was sick. She wasn't surprised to hear that Klaus almost never got sick, and that when he did he was completely impossible to deal with.

"You mean he's not impossible anyway?"

Katerina laughed. "He's more impossible."

Caroline wrinkled her nose, and they talked about the recent episode of The Voice (Katerina was firm in her belief that Amanda Brown would win the whole thing, but Caroline wasn't convinced), which soon turned into a heated debate on the merits of Adam Levine versus Cee Lo (both were firmly on Team Adam in the looks department, but Katerina liked Cee Lo's sense of humor).

"You just like Adam because he's snarky and has excellent tattoos."

"What does having tattoos have to do with anything?"

Katerina snorted. "Nothing, you just like snarky, badass men that are incredibly competitive. With tattoos. The only way you would like Adam Levine any more is if he had blonde curly hair and his name was—"

"Shut up, Kat. I do not like Klaus."

"Of course you don't," Katerina said, condescendingly.

Caroline checked the clock, suddenly desperate for the conversation to be over. Luckily, it was almost time to wake Stefan up.

"Oh, look at the time!"

"This conversation isn't over, Car—"

Caroline hung up on her.

* * *

**November 8****th****, 2012**

Caroline knocked softly on the door with her foot and heard a groan behind it. Gingerly carrying the mug of scalding tea, she adjusted the pillows she was holding under her arm and pushed the door open with her shoulder. She approached the double bed, where Klaus was lying shirtless on his stomach, his face half-buried into his pillow, and shivering despite the generous pile of blankets he was cocooned in.

Setting the mug on the coaster on his bedside table, she softly tapped his shoulder, causing him to give her a one-eyed glare, and he rolled over onto his back.

"How are you feeling?"

"I don't think I've been this energetic before in my life," he croaked.

"That was a genuine question. You need to tell me how you are so that I can help you."

"Terrible."

"Can you be a little bit more specific?"

"My head hurts, I am nauseated, and there's an overly concerned and very talkative blonde that keeps coming into my room and preventing my rest."

Caroline snorted. "Wow. She sounds like a bitch."

"Indeed."

She rolled her eyes. "Sit up so that I can put more pillows behind you."

He obliged, and she helped him lean back onto the giant pile of pillows she had stacked behind him. He reached for the mug, cradling it in his hands and took a few sips, and she sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's my job. And even if it wasn't, I don't like seeing anyone in pain when I can help, even if it's you."

"I appreciate it."

She snorted. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Do you have magical healing powers?"

"No, but I can make you some soup or something if you want."

"I'm not very hungry, Caroline."

"Okay, well, it's been long enough that you can take more ibuprofen, which might lower your fever."

"I don't like taking pills. The only reason I took them before was because you wouldn't have left my room if I hadn't. I'll be fine."

"It'll help though. Do you _like _being sick?"

"Yes, Caroline. Lying in bed feeling like I have a wrecking ball in my brain is one of my favorite pastimes."

She sighed. "I'm sorry Klaus, I'm not trying to take my anger out on you. We're just so close to being done, and I'm not self-absorbed enough to think that I'm the only one of us who wants to get out of here before Christmas, but I'm just so ready to leave."

"It's fine, love."

"I'll let you get back to sleep, okay?"

"I don't think I'll be able to fall back asleep, which is unfortunate because there really isn't anything else to do."

She gave him a soft smile.

"I know you must be bored, but I don't think we can move the TV in here. If you want I can go get my laptop and we can watch a movie on that."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to do that? You might get sick."

"If I was going to get sick, I already would have caught it. Besides, Stefan and I both got flu shots. As I recall, _someone _thinks that immunizations are ridiculous and unnecessary."

"This case is an outlier," he said, and then continued, smirking, "I suppose you're right about the possibility of infection. I would have been contagious for a few days before my symptoms showed, and since you have ever so kindly allowed me access to your mouth—"

"Be careful, or I might change my mind and leave you here alone with nothing to do."

"We wouldn't want that, would we?"

"Fine then, if you don't want—"

"I would be very grateful if you would bring in your computer and allow me to watch a movie."

She sighed and got up to get her computer. When she came back he had shifted slightly to the side, leaving her some room to sit. She hopped up and sat next to him, but on top of his blankets, and opened her laptop.

"What would you like to watch?"

"It doesn't matter to me," Caroline said, settling the computer on her lap and opening Netflix.

He shrugged and kept drinking his tea. "You choose. I'd prefer an action movie though."

They settled back against the pillows to watch the first James Bond movie that had come up from Caroline's search, and halfway through the movie Caroline felt a weight next to her head and turned slightly to find that Klaus had fallen asleep.

She sighed and decided that it would be to the benefit of the citizens of the Earth in general—particularly the ones who would have to talk to him in the near future—if she just let him sleep. She wanted to finish the movie anyway—but she shifted in her seat to a more comfortable position.

She made it through the credits, and decided to start another movie to keep the noise level constant—Klaus was an extremely light sleeper, and the change in volume might wake him. After randomly selecting the next movie she saw, she shifted slightly to pull out her phone to make sure Stefan hadn't texted her.

A few moments later she felt Klaus stir next to her, and she felt bad for moving since she obviously had woken him up.

"Caroline."

"Hmm?"

"You make good tea," he mumbled, closing his eyes and falling back asleep.

_Someone's delirious._

She was tempted to go microwave herself some dinner, but she didn't want to wake him up again. He needed to get better soon, which meant sleeping as much as possible. However, it was only ten o'clock, and she really didn't want to have to sit next to him for the night. He was a little too close for comfort.

She decided to watch the rest of the movie, and hopefully by the time it was over he would have rested enough.

**XXX**

**November 9****th****, 2012**

Stefan came into the apartment quietly, mindful of the fact that Klaus might be asleep. He had left as soon as the bar closed at midnight, and he hoped that Klaus and Caroline hadn't killed each other in the eight hours he'd been away.

He didn't see Caroline in the living room, and peeked into her room to find it empty as well. Worried that something had happened to them, he cracked open the door to Klaus's room, and smirked at what he saw.

Caroline's hair was a tangled mess on the pillows behind her, and she was cuddled into Klaus's naked chest. His nose was buried in her hair, his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her to him.

The laptop was precariously balanced on top of the blankets covering them, and Stefan silently stepped over to pick it up and set it on the bedside table so that it didn't fall and break. He heard a rustle of fabric and saw Klaus crack an eye open.

Stefan should have known that he couldn't move within five feet of Klaus without waking him up. The other man was a notoriously light sleeper.

Caroline, however, could probably sleep through an alien invasion, and both of them knew it.

"What time is it?" Klaus mumbled.

"About twelve thirty. Do you want to wake her?"

Klaus glared at him and seemed to secure his arms around Caroline a little more firmly.

"I'll take that as a no then."

"I'm tired. Go away." Klaus mumbled, and then rested his cheek on top of Caroline's head.

Stefan snorted and left quietly, waiting for Klaus's breathing to slow and then pulling out his iPhone to snap a picture.

_Kat will go crazy when she sees this_.

**XXX**

The second Caroline woke up, she became acutely aware of how uncomfortably hot she was. She was piled under a veritable mountain of blankets, and cuddled into a feverish Klaus's naked chest. She felt sweaty and sticky—and not in a good way.

"Good morning." Klaus mumbled next to her.

She hmm'd and disentangled herself to take a shower, reveling in the water spraying on her skin. She had woken up in Klaus's arms, and she would probably never hear the end of it. And she couldn't help thinking that if he hadn't been feverish and sweaty, it might have been more than comfortable.

He was going to be completely insufferable about it, and she knew it. She had opened a can of worms that would now be almost impossible to close.

By the time she had wrapped herself in a fluffy towel and started to dress, she had a new mantra: "It's only as awkward as you make it."

She was determined to keep it not awkward.

_Yeah, _she thought to herself, _good luck with that._

* * *

**November 13****th****, 2012**

She didn't know why she had ever wanted Klaus to get better. She had avoided him like the plague ever since she woke up in his bed, and only saw him when she came to bring him more tea, or give him quick updates on the mission. She had woken up that morning to find him in the kitchen eating a sandwich, and from his smirk she knew that he'd noticed that she was avoiding him, and had no intention of letting it go.

_It's only as awkward as you make it._

"Good morning," she said, as brightly as she could.

"Isn't it?" He asked smugly.

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thank you."

She poured herself some coffee and leaned against the counter.

"Has Stefan updated you?"

"I think so. As far as I know, he has successfully infiltrated the ring and is being given small tasks. He's waiting to figure out where their base of operations is, and so far only knows that there are constantly trucks stopping and going. He's attempted to follow one, but worried that they realized he was following. He was hoping that once I recovered I could try to tail them more successfully."

Caroline nodded. "That's pretty much it. I'm going to go get ready. I have to leave in an hour or two."

"Excellent. I'll come with you."

"You don't have to."

"I want to. We need to make up for lost time."

_It's only as awkward as you make it._

* * *

**December 1****st****, 2012**

"Kat, how long does it take to change into a shirt and jeans?" Mason called through the bathroom door, banging on it a few times. She ignored him.

Ten minutes later, Katerina carefully set down her curling iron and fluffed her hair, turning side to side in the mirror to make sure it was up to her standards. Satisfied, she turned to peek out of the hotel bathroom to her handler.

"I'm ready to go."

He looked up from the book he was reading and then set it aside. "Great. That only took three hours."

"You're exaggerating," she said, grabbing her purse from the side table.

"You were in there for an hour and forty-five minutes. Don't you think that's a little bit excessive?"

"You do realize that we're ahead of schedule, right?"

"Yeah, because I knew you would spend a century admiring yourself in the mirror and so I blocked out the time."

"I wasn't admiring myself in the mirror, I was giving the mirror the privilege of admiring me."

_And spending an hour on the phone with Elijah. You're lucky Mason's polite enough not to talk about it._

He followed her out the hotel door to the parking lot, and let her slide into the passenger seat.

"I'll drop you off at the park entrance, okay?"

"Yes, I know, and then you'll wait for me until I text you that I got to the apartment. We don't need to go over it again, it's not like this guy's dangerous."

They were in Charleston, North Carolina to get some information on a boy at the local community college who was a suspect of posting nude photos of his ex-girlfriend on a revenge porn website. Unfortunately for him, Katerina's (and Elena's) late father John Gilbert had been best friends with the girl's dad, so the agency kept tabs on him and his family just in case something happened. When Katerina had heard about the incident she convinced Silas to make it an official target mission to figure out who did it and bring them in.

Bring them into a funeral home, that is.

She had gone through the girl's Facebook history and found the names of a few of her recent exes. This guy was the third she had checked out of the five on the list. She was to get him to take her home, put him to sleep, and search his computer. Easy enough.

There was a barbeque at the local park, and it was the perfect opportunity to get him alone. If it didn't work out she'd have to tail him.

Mason dropped her off and she stepped out of the car, careful to keep her heels out of the mud. Once she'd reached the throng of people at the picnic tables, Mason drove away.

She scanned the crowd for Gordon Sheppard—the suspect—and spotted him standing with a small cluster of people, each of them clutching plastic beer cups. She made her way over to them in purposeful strides.

She tapped Gordon on the shoulder, and when he turned to her, she asked, "Jack?"

He looked confused. "Sorry, who?"

She pasted an embarrassed grin on her face. "Oh, sorry, you look like someone I know."

"It's okay," the boy said.

She gave him an awkward smile. "I'm sorry to bother you."

He shrugged. She turned to leave, but caught his eye again for a moment, giving him her best shy smile.

She sauntered away, heading towards a buffet table, and sure enough Gordon followed after her a few minutes later. He smiled flirtatiously. "I'm Gordon," he said, sticking out his hand.

"Katherine," she said, shaking it.

"Are you new here? I haven't seen you before. And I definitely would have remembered you if I had."

_No points for originality, this one._

"Charleston's a big city, you know," she said, smiling, "But yes, I just moved here."

"Well, Charleston is lucky to have you."

_Laying it on a little thick, isn't he._

"Trying to capitalize on my awkward moment?"

"I think of it more like the early bird getting the worm."

_Dick._

"Confident, aren't you?"

He gave her a sheepish grin. "It sounds better in my head than when it comes out."

"Well, you can make up for it by getting me a drink if you want. I'm still considering the various cookie options."

He left, and she had to restrain herself from making a face at him behind his back. She would have to spend the entire night channeling her twin, and she was _not_ excited about it.

**XXX**

Two and a half hours later, she had stuck him with a needle—best part of her day, honestly—and was opening his laptop. She was lucky, as it was one of those cheap tiny ones with the fingerprint reader. She grabbed his hand and swiped his index finger over the sensor.

She was in.

It had been less than two weeks since the incident, and she would bet on him still having it in his history. People with personal laptops, especially those with fingerprint readers or other methods of locking that don't require hacking, tended to not bother deleting their histories.

Sure enough, she found the website in his history, and when she visited it, the link took her directly to the picture. She grimaced and texted Mason that she had found the guy, and asked him to take care of any apartment security stuff while she finished up.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a little orange pill bottle. Donning latex gloves, she carefully pulled him to sit upright on the bed and forced him to swallow five of them, before dropping two on the bed.

According to anyone at the scene, he overdosed on painkillers.

Satisfied with her work, she left the apartment building, and headed towards Mason's car. She was tapped on the shoulder, and turned to see a tall dark-haired woman.

The woman gave her a small smile, and Katerina was instantly reminded of Bonnie's Grandma Sheila. "This fell out of your purse," she said, holding out a tube of mascara.

"Thanks," Katerina said, taking it and walking away.

"All done," she said, sliding into the car.

"Took you long enough," Mason grumbled.

"I'm ready to go." Katerina said pointedly.

"Of course you are."

* * *

**December 12****th****, 2012**

Stefan loaded the last box into the truck and walked back to the bar. He picked up his phone, typing in the unlock code quickly, and texted Caroline to tell her that he'd meet her the next morning at the café to talk about his discoveries. Though there hadn't been much activity in the past week, he thought he'd figured out where one of the main storage spaces was. Caroline replied right away with an agreement, and the phone was ripped out of his hand before he could shut it off.

"New intel?" Wes quoted, raising an eyebrow. "Are you a cop?"

Stefan decided that the best course of action was to stay silent.

Wes narrowed his eyes and someone grabbed Stefan from behind. Stefan made a snap decision to let them take him, because they'd end up at the base, and sure enough he felt a slight piercing in his neck, and his vision swam. He blacked out.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Remember, the only way a writer improves is through feedback, so review! :D  
Outfits are up on Polyvore (link in profile).  
Updates will start being once a week now. I have finals and huge amount of stuff to do, so hopefully updates will happen every Thursday/Friday.  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	8. Stilettos

**A/N: Okay, sorry, I know it took long for this update and I suck. I promise everything will be once-per-week now (I have arbitrarily declared Thursday to be my update day, so this is a day late). Thank you so, so, SO much for the reviews/follows/favorites! I'm so happy that you guys are enjoying this story!  
Note for this chapter: I don't throw knives. I have never thrown knives. If _you _throw knives, please keep that in mind (and also correct me). So yeah, just because this fanfiction says that's how you throw a knife, don't try this at home. I'm probably totally wrong. :P  
As always, the outfits for this chapter are on Polyvore (the link to which is in my profile).  
I hope all of my American readers had a lovely day with family and good food, and for everyone else, I hope you had a good Thursday :P  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**December 13****th****, 2012**

"Where's Stefan? He was supposed to meet us here fifteen minutes ago."

"Pull up your tracker."

Caroline did as she was told, unlocking the laptop and typing in the series of passwords to get Stefan's location. The dot that symbolized his ring was moving through a part of town that he most definitely was not supposed to be in.

"He got captured," Caroline said hollowly.

"Don't panic."

"Don't panic? Klaus, they took Stefan. They might torture him, kill him even."

"Caroline, he's been tortured on numerous occasions before now. He can handle himself."

"_What?_"

Klaus had meant to calm her. He thought that knowing that Stefan had been through this situation before and would know what to expect would comfort her, but apparently he had said the wrong thing. The color was draining from her face and her breaths became shallow.

"Caroline. Look at me."

She raised her eyes to meet his.

"Now is not a good time to panic. I need you to remember what Damon told you about dealing with this situation. What did he say?"

"Clams."

"_Clams?_" Klaus demanded incredulously.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "It's a mnemonic. Calm yourself, locate the agent, assess the situation, make a plan, save the agent."

He made a mental note that allowing Caroline to tell him off or lecture him seemed to help calm her, and resolved to use the strategy in the future.

Caroline took a deep breath. "Get in the car."

He patted himself down as they drove, making sure he had his weapons in the correct places. Caroline's knuckles were white on the steering wheel, but he thought she was keeping herself together quite admirably for someone so emotional. Rebekah would still be screaming.

Perhaps that's why Rebekah wasn't a handler.

They parked a few blocks away from where the dot stopped, and Klaus fastened his earpiece.

"I'll tell you what I see when I get there."

Caroline frowned. "I'm not going with you?"

"Of course not."

Caroline gave him an offended look and grabbed a gun anyway, preparing to follow him.

"Caroline. You need to stay in the car."

"Like hell I'm staying in the car! That's my best friend in there."

"Look, I don't have time to argue about this, sweetheart. You need to follow directions and stay here. If my position is compromised, call for back-up and drive towards home _immediately_."

Klaus slammed the door in her face and walked towards the warehouse at a brisk pace. Once he reached the perimeter he approached the building slowly, observing that there didn't seem to be guards of any kind. This most likely meant one of two things: Either that they didn't have enough people to guard the property and watch Stefan at the same time, or that their security system was advanced enough that they didn't need human guards.

He decided to bet on the former, but proceeded with caution anyway, his hand on the gun hidden in his jacket pocket. He narrated his observations as quietly as he could to Caroline, and she would make small noises that confirmed that she was listening. He peeked in a window and saw that Stefan had his wrists tied to a chair in the corner, his legs crossed in front of him and staring at the ceiling, looking incredibly bored.

There were six men sitting at a table in the opposite corner of the room, chatting among themselves. Stefan was wearing his ring, but his coat, wallet, and gun were all stacked in a pile near the table.

Klaus considered his options. He decided to alert Stefan as subtly as possible and then cause enough chaos to get Stefan his gun and run. He waited for a few minutes until the conversation between the men at the table appeared to be engaging enough that they wouldn't notice Stefan's attention wandering. He went to the window closest to Stefan and tapped out a specific rhythm to tell Stefan that it was him. Stefan smirked, and Klaus knew that he had received the message.

He walked to a corner of the building near the back door and fired two shots into the air, waited five seconds, and then entered through the backdoor towards Stefan.

There were two men still in the room with him, Klaus knocked one out with his gun barrel, and covered the other one's mouth before knocking him out too. He was in the process of untying Stefan when he heard a high-pitched scream from the direction of where the guards had gone to investigate.

He restrained an eyeroll and an exasperated sigh, finished undoing the knot, and was out the door before Stefan had finished untangling himself.

The sight that greeted Klaus once he made it out of the warehouse was not at all unexpected, but that didn't stop him from being angry about it. Caroline was being held by two guards while another pointed a gun at her. The last one was nowhere to be seen, but Klaus figured he'd show up sooner or later.

If she had seen Klaus, she didn't acknowledge his presence.

Klaus shot the guard with the gun in the side, which caused a number of events to happen in the next ten seconds.

The other two guards dropped Caroline and pulled their weapons out, pointing them at Klaus. He saw five more people approach from the corner of his eye, one being Wes, answering the question of where the last guard went. Klaus carefully positioned himself with his back to the warehouse wall knowing that Stefan would arrive within seconds, and shot one of the seven remaining guards in the stomach.

Within a whirl of screams and movement, Stefan arrived pinned Caroline to the ground under him and Klaus shot five guards in quick succession, and turned to the left when he heard a gunshot to see Stefan on the ground with a bleeding leg and Caroline in Wes's arms with a gun held to her neck.

Klaus held his gun steady, knowing that they had mere minutes before Stefan lost too much blood.

"Drop your gun or Carrie dies."

"How do I know you won't kill her anyway?"

"Listen man, all I want is to get away from here alive and with my goods. If you drop your gun, I'll let you leave."

Klaus decided that the guy probably wouldn't kill Caroline, people tended to underestimate her until she shoved a gun in their face, nor would he have enough skills to defend himself even with the gun and Klaus weaponless. He let his gun fall with a clatter to the ground and slowly brought his hands up.

Unfortunately, Wes hadn't anticipated Caroline elbowing him in the stomach and grabbing his gun from him. He immediately went for his coat pocket and pulled out a knife.

Klaus watched as she made a snap decision and shot Wes in the stomach.

She immediately rushed to Stefan and barked at Klaus to pull the car around. He did so, and once they were situated on the side of the road and Caroline was treating Stefan's wound, Klaus spoke.

"Why didn't you stay in the fucking car?"

"Because I didn't hear you talk for awhile and then I heard a gunshot, so I thought that there was a problem. Oh stop being such a baby Stefan, it barely grazed you."

Stefan grunted, glowering at her, and then swore at her touch. With shaking hands, she carefully selected a syringe out of her medical kit, and plugged in a vial of red gelatinous liquid. She took a deep breath before she plunged it into Stefan's leg.

"You shouldn't have disregarded my instructions."

"Well, we got out alive anyway."

"That's true. We also failed to obtain any information on possible links to other organizations, left seven corpses to be found without erasing possible security footage, let two men that may have seen our faces or known our names knocked out on the ground to wake within hours, and have a seriously injured team member."

Caroline froze, her hand hovering over Stefan's wound.

"I just killed a person."

It figured that out of that entire speech what Caroline would focus on was that she killed a wanted criminal who had been holding a gun to her neck and had been willing to stab her mere seconds before, instead of the fact that she compromised the mission or that she'd nearly caused her best friend to be killed, both of which Klaus felt were rather larger issues in the grand scheme of things. Klaus let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed the bandage out of her hand, attempting to finish what she'd started.

"Now is not the time for a moral compass re-assessment Caroline. We have to get Stefan stable and then go back and erase the footage and take care of the bodies. Do you need to do anything more for Stefan?"

She nodded wordlessly, and plunged another needle into Stefan, causing his eyes to flutter and close. Realizing that she wouldn't be any use on the road, Klaus returned to the driver's seat and took them back to the warehouse.

They erased the footage, retrieved the contraband, and disposed of the bodies without more than ten words being exchanged. After drugging the two unconscious guards and putting them in the back of the car, Caroline got into the driver's seat and immediately started sobbing. By then, Klaus had had enough.

"Caroline. Turn on the car and drive. We need to get back to the apartment and pack everything up. You're lucky I'm not going to report this, because you could have been in a huge amount of trouble for interfering in the mission like you just did."

Caroline sniffed. "Why won't you report me?"

He considered his answer for a moment. Telling her that she was a relatively competent handler after this incident would just reinforce the rewards for bad behavior, and explaining that she might be the one person outside of his family who's life he valued was out of the question. He settled for a slight smile.

"I haven't had the opportunity to collect on my second date yet."

She tried to scoff, it came out sounding more like a hiccup, and that just caused him to smirk more.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I think you owe me a favor. And step on it, sweetheart. We need to be out of Pennsylvania by dinner."

**XXX **

The drive back was incredibly awkward, to say the least. Stefan was still knocked out in the back, though they had given him strict orders to rest and tell them if he needed another injection of the blood serum when he had briefly woken earlier.

The serum wasn't completely developed yet. Bonnie and Ayana had only gotten to the point where it sped up the clotting of blood. However, Caroline knew that they were making a lot of progress. The agents and handlers had orders to only use it in life-or-death situations—as all the side effects were unknown—and to immediately take the injured person to the hospital when they arrived back to Mystic Falls.

Klaus sat in the passenger seat playing a game on his phone, and whenever Caroline looked at him, she could see that he was furious. He had shot eight people right in front of her without batting an eyelash, and she saw why Stefan called him the most dangerous man in the world. She was sure that he didn't regret it or feel anything other than ambivalence towards the dead guards, but he definitely hadn't wanted the situation to occur in the first place. He had clearly been making an effort to not direct his fury at her, but she was sure that every moment was a struggle.

She resisted the urge to make conversation, and she had never been happier to arrive at a hospital than she was the moment she pulled in. She had called ahead to Bonnie, who was waiting outside with a stretcher, and once she was sure Stefan was safely dropped off, she drove them to the huge mansion-like building where Silas's office was to drop the guards off and return the car.

She was about to start walking home, when Klaus gave her a serious look. "Walk with me."

She followed him, a strange knot in her stomach. They walked for a few minutes in silence, and she could tell that Klaus was trying to figure out what to say.

"I told you that I won't report this, and I intend to keep my promise. However, Silas may call you in to talk about the fact that Stefan was injured. If he does, tell him the truth and don't leave anything out. I will speak with him afterwards."

"Okay."

He nodded and turned to leave.

"Thank you, Klaus." She said softly.

He stiffened for a moment, but then relaxed and kept walking, not acknowledging that she had spoken.

She frowned, but started to walk home.

* * *

**December 15****th****, 2012**

Caroline arrived at Silas's office at exactly three o'clock, as was mandated by the email she had received that morning, and was confused to see Klaus standing at the doorway as well (though he didn't look at all surprised at seeing her).

Stefan was still under observation at the hospital even though he was mostly physically recovered. Bonnie wanted to keep him for a few days extra to make sure that there were no side effects. She was also taking his blood every day to see if there was anything she could use.

"Don't say anything unless he directly asks you a question. I'll do the talking. Do you understand?"

She opened her mouth to object and say that she was perfectly capable of speaking for herself, but he gave her a warning look and then quickly knocked on the door, and Silas bid them to enter. Caroline walked in after Klaus and saw Silas behind the desk with a man she had never met. Klaus nodded at him, though. "Hello, Brother."

"Niklaus," the man said quietly, returning the nod.

Caroline realized that this must be Finn, the oldest brother. Silas told them to sit down.

"I understand that there was some difficulty with the Philadelphia mission."

"Yes." Klaus said shortly.

"I have spoken to Damon, and it has come to my attention that Miss Forbes has not been acting strictly as a handler. Is it true that she has been accompanying you on fieldwork?"

Klaus nodded. "She's been an immense help for the missions that can require a more delicate approach."

"Damon referred to her as the 'little blonde distraction'." Silas said, annunciating the syllables so that it was clear that he was unhappy with the development.

"As I said, she has been instrumental in the success of several missions, particularly the one in Philadelphia."

"Is that so?"

Klaus nodded.

"Well, originally Alaric was certain that Miss Forbes wasn't suited for a field position. If that's not true, I can have her transferred to a different—"

"That won't be necessary," Klaus interrupted.

Silas sighed. "I assumed you would say that. In that case, I ask that Miss Forbes receives better training in combat, whether with Alaric or someone else, and when she is needed for fieldwork on a mission, you'll take another handler."

Klaus smirked and then frowned, his eyes floating to Finn and then back to Silas again.

"I have asked Finn to fill in as your handler at times when Miss Forbes will be doing field work. Is that acceptable to you?"

Klaus nodded, his face unreadable.

"Excellent," Silas said, turning back to his papers on the desk.

Caroline took that as a dismissal, and left the room, with Klaus and Finn on her heels. "I look forward to working with you, Caroline. I have heard good things from my wife," Finn said to her, his voice clear and quiet.

"Thanks. I look forward to working with you as well."

"Before I forget, Sage has requested that you join us for dinner on Christmas Eve. She seemed quite insistent, so I suggest you do as she says. In my experience, she's terrifying when displeased."

Caroline smiled. "I'd like that."

He bid them goodbye and left, and Caroline turned to Klaus.

"Why does Silas still call me Miss Forbes?"

"Because you don't have any family members here. If he called all of my brothers and I 'Mr. Mikaelson' we'd never know who he was speaking of. I don't know if you were informed, but Stefan is being released today. I was going to pick him up at the hospital. Would you like to come with?"

_So that you can try to convince me to let you teach me to fight? No thank you._

"It's okay, but thanks for offering," she said dryly, before walking to her car and driving off.

* * *

**December 17****th****, 2012**

As usual, Caroline's suspicions about Klaus's intentions were correct: he wanted to be the one to train her. She had asked Katerina, Kol, and Stefan whether they would help her, but all of them refused with bullshit excuses. Katerina had even strongly hinted that she should ask Klaus.

She banged on the front door to Stefan and Klaus's house, and Stefan let her in. She brushed past his greeting and went to the living room to find Klaus. He wasn't there or in the kitchen.

"Klaus!" She shouted.

There was movement from the second floor, and Klaus came into view coming down the stairs.

"What, Caroline?"

"Have you been threatening people so that they don't train me?"

His innocent look didn't fool her for a second.

"Not at all. Why would you believe that I would do such a thing?"

She rested her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Does that mean you can't find anyone to help you?"

"Not at the moment," she bit out.

"That's too bad," he said, his face sympathetic, "I'd be happy to assist you if you wish."

She crossed her arms. "Fine."

His face split into a grin.

"BUT, if you're a terrible teacher, you have to agree to let someone else teach me."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not a terrible teacher."

"How do you know?"

"I don't think I've ever been terrible at a single thing in my life."

"You can't cook." Stefan said helpfully.

"Only because you choose to instead. If I wanted to learn, I could."

Stefan shrugged.

"Either which way, I will meet you at the gym at nine in the morning tomorrow. Is that late enough in the day for you?"

He knew she wasn't a morning person by now, as she had pitched a take-away cup of coffee at his head when they were in Philadelphia.

"I guess."

"Excellent."

* * *

**December 18****th****, 2012**

Klaus watched Caroline turn the knife he had given her over in her hand several times before she frowned up at him.

"Why do I have to learn to throw a knife if I already know how to shoot a gun?" Caroline asked irritably.

"You never know what enemies will be stupid enough to leave with you."

"What, you think someone will leave me a knife? Maybe I'm overestimating the intelligence of people we have to fight, but that would be pretty stupid of them."

"No, but a knife is just the first step. Two years ago Stefan and I were captured in an office building. Our captors were rather rushed, and so they left us in one of the empty offices, not bothering to remove the less "dangerous" office supplies."

"What did you do, throw a pencil at someone's head?" Caroline asked sarcastically.

He grinned. "Actually, yes. Stefan and I used rubber bands, tape, and unsharpened pencils for a makeshift slingshot, and when they came through the door Stefan managed to nail one of them in the eye with one of the leftover pencils we had managed to sharpen with our fingernails."

"Seriously?"

Klaus nodded. "Try it, and I'll see where you are."

She snorted, but obligingly attempted a throw. The knife didn't even reach the wall and clattered harmlessly to the floor. Klaus walked over and picked it up, coming back to stand next to her.

He had expected her to have some difficulties, but not to this extent. There were more than a number of problems with her stance and technique. To be fair, he was sure she'd never had to throw a knife before, but it was his job to make sure that she could consistently hit her target as soon as possible.

"Did you ever play sports?" He asked.

"I cheered."

He rolled his eyes.

"Hey. Cheering is a sport."

"I'm sure it is, sweetheart," he said indulgently, suppressing a smile at her scowl, "But not softball or basketball?"

"Nope."

He tried to figure out the best way to explain the basics to her. "Throwing a knife is similar to throwing a baseball. There are complex minute-sounding details that will be difficult to master and put together all at once. It actually took me about six months to be able to hit a group of moving targets in a row."

She snorted. "Wow, six months, what a slacker."

He rolled his eyes. "I will give you an example of how your body should move. I want you to try to imitate my stance."

He gripped the knife in his hand, and with a swift movement that was so ingrained he barely had to think about it, he twisted his body and let the knife fly from his fingers, where it ripped through the air, burying itself in the center of the target.

She just stared at him. "So, like, you want me to match the first part before you throw?"

He nodded and watched her position herself. Her feet were misplaced slightly, and her shoulder wasn't facing the correct direction. He approached her and nudged her back leg. "Put your foot so that it's perpendicular to the wall, yes, just like that. Now face your front shoulder towards the target, good, now line up the rest of your body so that it faces the same way. No, a little bit more to your left, yes, exactly."

He carefully moved around her, making sure that she was in the correct stance.

"Now, I want you to remember how that feels, because you're going to drop the stance and then get back into it a few times to make sure you can do it seamlessly."

Caroline groaned and relaxed her body, standing naturally again.

"Do it again."

Klaus was surprised to find that her stance was almost perfect the first time she tried to do it herself. He corrected her, and then had her do it a few more times until she could almost instantly fall into it. He suspected that her dance and cheer experience helped her to learn new positions quickly.

"Excellent. Are you ready to learn the basics of throwing?"

She scowled, but it seemed a little bit forced. "I don't exactly have a choice."

"There are a few steps to correctly throwing the knife with enough aim and momentum to put it where you want it to go. As I said, it's similar to throwing a baseball. First, we're going to practice flicking your wrist at the end of the throw correctly. Put your arm up like this." He held up his arm so that it was bent at the elbow, with his forearm sticking straight up in the air, perpendicular to the floor, and faced his wrist forward, and she copied him.

He held her forearm in the correct position with his hand and had her flick her wrist forward a few times, and was happy that he didn't need to correct her. She threw a few rubber balls to make sure that she had a handle on exactly how to move her wrist.

"Good. Now, face the target, and move your arm in a circular motion towards the target, flicking your wrist at the end. Depending on how far you need the knife to go, you can adjust the size of the circle." He demonstrated the motion again for her.

"That's not how you throw a baseball," She pointed out, looking confused.

"As I said, it's similar to a baseball, but not exactly the same. Instead of a circle that's perpendicular to the floor, you want one that's closer to being parallel, but not exactly."

"Can you do it again?"

"Of course."

He showed her the arm movement, pivoting slightly and throwing in a wide diagonal arc.

"You look like that kid on Pokémon when he throws the balls."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Never mind," she mumbled.

"Try the arm movement for me."

She did, and it was much closer to the proper way. He adjusted her slightly, and she was soon using the correct movement.

"Excellent. Make sure you lead with your elbow. Do it again. Good. Now put it together. Stand correctly, lean back slightly and push off with your back foot. Yes, exactly like that. I think you're ready to try again."

He demonstrated the throw once more, and then handed her one of the knives resting on the table next to them. She did much better, though it still wasn't close to perfect. She was having trouble putting enough momentum behind the throw to keep the knife stuck to the target.

"That was good. I think you'll learn more quickly than I anticipated. I have requested to Silas that we aren't assigned any missions that will take more than three days until you get more advanced with these skills. However, that will take some time. We should work at least three times a week, and Alaric knows that you're going to need to work in the gym on your own occasionally."

"Okay. I think I'll ask Stefan or Kat for help tomorrow."

He was silent for a moment. "You should know that my wish to teach you was not the only reason that Katerina and Stefan both denied your request for help. They both know that I am the most advanced of all our agents here, and perhaps including those abroad, and I would be in the best position to help you. There are some skillsets that Katerina and Stefan—as well as Kol, Rebekah, and the others—each excel at on their own, though, perhaps with the exception of Kol, and you don't particularly need any help with firearms from what I recall, I am still significantly more proficient in all of them. If you would like someone to help you with your technique for this particular skill outside of the time you spend with me, I would recommend that you consult Katerina. This is her favorite parlor trick, after all. Most of her kills are done with knives."

Caroline shuddered, and he suspected that she was imagining her roommate slitting someone's throat or burying the knife in their midsection.

"I do recommend that you consult Katerina if you wish to get any extra training accomplished this week, as I suspect that you will be unbelievably busy. You seem like the sort of person that has an unhealthy amount of enjoyment for Christmas."

By her responding eyeroll, he could tell that he was right.

* * *

**December 20****th****, 2012**

"You throw like a goldfish."

"I do _not_!" Caroline argued, rolling her eyes at Katerina's smirking face.

Katerina walked over and placed her hands lightly on Caroline's hips, positioning them correctly, and then made some minor adjustments to the way her feet were placed.

"You were standing wrong."

"That's how Klaus taught me to stand," Caroline said.

"Well, Klaus is both taller and male. Your weight is distributed a little bit differently. Here, try it this way."

Caroline threw the knife, and it bounced off the target.

"Try again."

They went through that about ten more times with the same result, until Caroline got frustrated and threw her hands in the air. "I can't do this. Like, I really want to, but I can't. It's not working."

"It just takes practice. You've literally been working on it for two days. You can't expect yourself to be able to do it this fast."

"What am I doing wrong?"

Katerina shrugged. "You're probably just having trouble with the angle. You're hitting the target, so aiming isn't the issue. Here, watch me."

Once again, Caroline watched Kat flawlessly throw the knife into the target. She tried to imitate the movement only to watch the knife bounce off again.

"Wait here, I have an idea," Katerina said, pulling out her phone, "Film me."

Caroline did as she was told, and Katerina loaded an app on her phone that slowed down the video by 300%.

Caroline observed her friend's movements carefully and noticed that she shifted her weight oddly at the last second. She experimentally moved a little bit until she felt like she might be able to do the same thing, and then grabbed a knife and threw.

Sure enough, the knife buried itself in the target. Granted, it wasn't near the center and she had thrown it from about ten feet away, but she was still proud.

It was clear that Katerina was impressed too. "I should probably tell Papa to get a video camera for the training room," she muttered to herself.

Caroline nodded.

"All right. Do that a few times, and then you'll move back a few feet."

Caroline practiced until she could reliably hit the target (even if it wasn't in the center), and then backed up a few steps. Even a difference as small as five feet made the throw more difficult. She felt like everything she had learned in the past two days had just escaped her.

"How far away do you have to go before you can hit the target?" She asked Katerina.

The other girl smirked and backed up to the opposite wall, neatly burying her knife in the bullseye.

"How long did it take for you to be able to do _that?_"

Katerina shrugged. "About three years of practicing at least twice a week. I can actually do it from farther away, but we don't have enough room."

Caroline just shook her head at her friend.

Katerina clapped her hands together and sauntered back over. "Once you can hit it from twenty feet, we'll work on doing it at different heights. After you get that down, you'll have to learn how to do it in heels."

"It's different in heels?"

Katerina laughed. "Yes. Your weight is distributed differently. Klaus will probably only work on it until you can hit a target anywhere from twenty feet, but I'll help you afterwards. He has no experience throwing in four inch stilettos."

Caroline snorted. "I'd pay to see that."

"I'm sure he'd pay to see you do it."

"Seriously, Kat?" Caroline groaned.

"What? I see the way he looks at you. He'd jizz his pants."

"_EW._ Kat… Omigod, that's so gross."

Katerina gave her an infuriating smirk. "You just keep telling yourself that you think that, but you can't fool me."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Even if I did like him, which I totally don't, I couldn't date him. Hello? He's killed so many people. He's a mass murderer."

Katerina gave her a pitying look. "Care, if your definition of "mass murderer" is that he's killed a ton of people, then Stefan is a mass murderer. You _live_ with a mass murderer."

Caroline gave Katerina a helpless look. "He doesn't like me. He just likes my body, and I don't want to deal with that."

"Caroline, if he only liked you for your body, he wouldn't be so interested."

"How do you know?"

Katerina gave her a delicate shrug. "He talks about you. I babysit for Sage and Finn sometimes when Elena's not around, and Katya won't shut up about 'That girl that Uncle Nik likes.'"

"Katya?"

"Sage and Finn's daughter. They have a son too, Dmitri," Katerina explained, and then continued, sounding a little wistful, "Cute kids."

Caroline frowned, but didn't say anything, sensing that this might be a sensitive subject.

Katerina seemed to snap back to reality. "All right. Try again."

Caroline groaned.

* * *

**A/N: So, Stefan has been rescued, Caroline's being trained now, and Katerina has made some interesting observations... I said that there would be more training in the first chapter, so I hope that you guys are happy that I followed through on that :D  
I hope the chapter was worth the wait! Please let me know what you thought in reviews, as feedback is the only way I'll ever improve as a writer :)  
As I said, updates every Thursday now! :)  
To everyone that wished me good luck on finals, thanks :D :D  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	9. An Unhealthy Enjoyment for Christmas

**A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! You all have no idea how happy it makes me that this fic is picking up steam, and I'm THRILLED.  
This chapter is going up a day early because I have a HUGE paper due on Thursday (in about 36 hours) that I forgot existed. In an effort to prevent myself from procrastinating by making many unnecessary edits to this, I'm posting it early.  
I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
And believe me, I REALLY enjoyed writing it ;)  
Thank you so much wondygal for being your fabulous beta-ing self!  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**December 24****th****, 2012**

The front door to Finn and Sage's house swung open almost as soon as she knocked, and Caroline was greeted (or stared at silently, rather) by a child of about eight or nine. "Who're you?" The girl asked, her hands on her hips in a position that was reminiscent of Rebekah's signature annoyed-stance.

Sage appeared behind the girl and gently pushed her out of the way to let Caroline in. "Katya, this is Caroline. She's coming for dinner tonight."

Katya looked at her disinterestedly and walked away into the house. "Sorry," Sage said sheepishly, "They don't meet new people often, so they're not used to minding their manners. Everyone's in the living room, if you want to join them."

"Thanks," Caroline said, smiling.

She entered the living room to find Katya, and who Caroline assumed to be her brother Dmitri, absorbed in a card game with Stefan and Rebekah, while Katerina, Elijah, Kol, and Finn were all sitting on the couches. Katerina waved her over.

"Hey Care, good to see you finally made it."

"Yeah, thanks for the ride, Kat," Caroline said dryly.

"Sorry," Katerina said, shrugging, "I felt like leaving early. Klaus hasn't left yet, though, you could have caught a ride with him."

"It's okay. I'd rather walk a mile and a half than be stuck in a car with him for more than thirty seconds."

"You realize that you guys spend time together in the car all the time, right?"

"Yeah, for our _jobs_."

Deciding that playing whatever the card game was would be infinitely better than a conversation with Katerina that had anything to do with Klaus, she sunk down next to Rebekah on the floor.

"What are you playing?"

"Memory," Dmitri said, frowning in concentration.

He picked up a pair of cards, and then put them back down when they weren't a pair. "We're almost done if you want to play the next game," Rebekah said.

"Sure."

She heard a knock on the door, and Dmitri got up to answer the door.

"Hi, Uncle Nik!"

"Dmitri."

Klaus entered the room, and his eyes immediately found her. Dmitri walked past him and sat back down, and Klaus followed, sitting next to Caroline.

"Happy Christmas, love."

Caroline snorted.

Katya frowned at them for a moment and then turned back to the game, smiling as she picked up the last four pairs. "I win," she said happily.

"You always win at this game," Dmitri mumbled, grabbing the cards from his sister and shuffling them. "I want to play something else."

"Go Fish?" Katya suggested.

Dmitri shrugged and started dealing the cards. "Do you want to play, Uncle Nik?"

"I'll just watch," he said, his eyes on Caroline.

Stefan massaged his temples while Rebekah smirked at the innuendo, and Katya gave Caroline an assessing look before turning back to her cards.

"You know," Klaus said conversationally, "I would have been more than happy to drive you, Caroline."

"Kat mentioned that."

"I can take you home tonight if you want."

"I'd rather fight a lion bare-handed," Caroline said with all the fake cheer she could muster, "Got any threes, Dmitri?"

"Go fish!"

She picked a card.

"Caroline," Katya said slowly, "Caroline-Uncle-Nik's-Caroline?"

Caroline gave Katya a supremely offended look. "I'm not 'Nik's Caroline'."

Katya rolled her eyes. "Aunt Bekah and Aunt Kat tease him about it all the time."

Caroline sent a betrayed look towards Rebekah, who grinned unrepentantly.

"Aunt Kat says that you could get away with anything and he wouldn't get mad," Dmitri said, before asking Rebekah for sixes.

"Yeah. And Aunt Rebekah says that he likes you more than her."

Klaus grinned. "That might be the only true thing she's ever said about me."

Rebekah scoffed.

"Not nice, Klaus," Caroline said.

He shrugged, and Katya raised an eyebrow in a way that was eerily reminiscent of Elijah.

"What?" Caroline asked.

"Nothing," Katya said, "Got any fours, Aunt Bekah?"

Klaus leaned next to her. "Even the children see it, Caroline."

"Only because you all are filling their heads with crazy ideas," Caroline mumbled.

He was close now, his lips almost brushing her ear. "We'll see," he replied in a low voice.

Caroline elbowed him sharply in the chest. He grunted in pain.

Katya and Dmitri looked at each other, then back at Caroline and Klaus.

"Got any fives, Caroline?" Stefan asked, trying to break the tension.

**XXX**

Caroline sat awkwardly next to Katya at the huge dinner table, picking at her mashed potatoes while she observed the chaos surrounding her, and tried to ignore Klaus observing _her_. Finn was sitting at the head of the table, sandwiched between Rebekah and Kol (who seemed to be arguing about something in hushed tones) and Stefan, who was sending Finn sympathetic looks every few seconds. From Finn's expression, Caroline could tell that he'd rather be practically anywhere else—or at least on the slightly calmer end of the table with Sage, who was attempting to carry on a conversation with Katerina and Elijah on one side while keeping an eye on the twins.

Said twins were chattering her and Klaus's ears off with their tales of school (which, in Travelers language, actually meant "tutoring on weekdays with Alaric and Jenna") and hobbies.

Katya had figured out very quickly that Caroline was more than willing to talk to her (as the other choice was to sit there silently and hope that Klaus didn't try to strike up a conversation), and so they ended up having an in depth discussion about which Disney characters all of the grown-ups would be.

They had just decided that Damon would make an excellent Hades, when Klaus jumped in. "But Elena wouldn't fit well as Persephone."

Katya frowned at him. "There's no Persephone in Hercules."

"Well, in the Greek myths there is."

"Tell the story," Katya ordered, causing Sage to turn around and gently reprimand her about pleases and thank-yous before turning back to Katerina and Elijah.

Klaus grinned at Caroline, who had a bad feeling about where this was going. "Hades had many siblings, the most famous of which were two of his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon. The three brothers overthrew their evil father Cronos to take over the earth. When they succeeded, they decided to draw lots to see which brother ruled over which part of the earth. Zeus, the youngest brother, became the King of the gods, and ruled over the heavens. Poseidon, the oldest brother, ruled over the ocean. Hades, the middle brother, had the worst draw and became lord of the underworld, where he ruled over the spirits of the dead."

"Well, we know _that _Uncle Nik. It says that in the movie," Dmitri chipped in, having started listening when Katya had ordered that the story be told.

"I'm getting there, I promise. As I was saying, Hades was king of the underworld. He was bitter and very lonely and wanted a wife. He had fallen in love with the goddess Persephone, but was afraid of approaching her."

He shot a sideways glance at Caroline, who rolled her eyes at his blatant intimation.

"He was afraid that the beautiful and kind Persephone wouldn't love him because he was so cruel, and so he devised a plan. One day when she was out in the fields, he spirited her away to his kingdom, and kept her there hoping to convince her to stay with him. But, she missed her family on Earth, and so she wanted to see them."

Caroline snorted. "You're taking some serious artistic liberties with the story."

He grinned at her. "It's a myth. Any telling of it uses artistic license." He turned to Dmitri and Katya, continuing, "Persephone prepared to leave the underworld, leaving Hades heartbroken, so he devised a plan to convince her to stay. On the day she was to leave, he offered her a pomegranate for her journey, knowing that if she ate a seed she would have to stay with him one month of the year for every seed she ate. She consumed part of the fruit, and was then obliged to stay in Hades' kingdom for half of every year."

"Did she fall in love with him?" Katya asked eagerly.

"Yes, eventually she did."

"That's _so _romantic."

Caroline snorted. "What," Katya asked, "You don't think it's romantic, Caroline?"

"No. I think that abducting a woman to force her to stay with you and develop Stockholm Syndrome is a terrible thing to do. It's not romantic at all."

"But Hades loved her, and he was trying to be a better man for her." Klaus argued.

"What's Stockholm Syndrome?" Katya asked. They ignored her.

"But it should be Persephone's choice whether she stays with him or not. She was forced to stay with him because he tricked her."

"He was just trying to get her to give him a chance, love. Is that so wrong?"

"Tricking her into living with him for six months every year for all of eternity is kind of a serious commitment, Klaus. That's not giving her a chance, that's kidnapping," Caroline said hotly.

"What's Stockholm Syndrome?" Katya asked again.

"She loved him in the end, so it all worked out," Klaus insisted.

"WHAT'S STOCKHOLM SYNDROME?" Katya almost screamed, throwing a piece of bread at Klaus from across the table to get his attention.

The table went quiet. "Don't throw food, Katya," Sage scolded.

"Sorry, Mom," Katya said, looking genuinely repentant, "But what's Stockholm Syndrome?"

Rebekah helpfully chipped in, her lips twitching into a badly-suppressed smile, "Stockholm Syndrome is when someone is kidnapped and falls in love with their kidnapper."

"Oh," Dmitri said, seemingly oblivious to the change of dynamic at the table, "So, Hades kidnapped Persephone to try to get her to love him, even though she didn't want to?"

"Yes." Klaus said.

"And she fell in love with him at the end, even though he kidnapped her?" Katya asked.

"That's debatable," Caroline muttered, poking at her chicken with her fork.

"But Hades is the bad guy," Dmitri pointed out, "Girls don't fall in love with bad guys."

"Well, even though Hades was cruel to most people, he loved Persephone and was kind to her."

Caroline decided not to prolong the conversation by pointing out that, in her opinion, Hades wasn't kind at all.

"So, Hades was super-mean, but he was nice to Persephone, so she loved him even though she didn't like what he did to make her love him?" Dmitri asked, seeming to want to clarify.

"Yes."

"That's so dumb!"

"That's so sweet!"

The twins spoke at the same time, causing some chuckles around the table.

"I guess that Damon can't be Hades then," Katya concluded.

"Why?" Caroline asked.

Katya gave her the most well-executed _you're an idiot _look Caroline had ever gotten from an eight-year-old and said, "Um, 'cause Uncle Nik is super mean and nasty to everyone except you, so he's Hades."

Katerina choked on her water, causing Elijah to knock her firmly on the back.

While everyone was turning to Katerina to ask if she was okay, Caroline caught sight of Klaus, who was smirking at her like the cat who ate the canary.

"When's dessert?" Dmitri asked loudly.

**XXX**

Caroline and a smirking Katerina walked side-by-side down the path in Sage and Finn's front yard toward their car.

"Shut up," Caroline mumbled.

"I didn't say anything," Katerina said, widening her eyes to create a comically forced innocent look.

"You were totally going to."

Katerina shrugged delicately. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"Persephone, my ass…" Caroline mumbled.

Katerina got in the driver's side door and Caroline buckled herself into the passenger seat.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think that my sister would be an excellent Persephone. I don't know anyone else that would be stupid enough to eat food that some stalker gave them while they were on their way to escape," Katerina said, pulling out of the driveway and onto the street.

Caroline snorted. "I think you should give your sister a little bit more credit, Kat."

"Maybe," Katerina said, shrugging, "Besides, I'd peg you more as the Megara to his Hercules."

"Excuse me?"

Katerina shrugged. "She's sassy and smart, and doesn't play the damsel in distress. Hercules falls in love with her practically at first sight, she spends almost the entire movie rejecting him, but then she realizes that she loves him and they end up saving each other, and it's all terribly romantic," Katerina finishes, the last part accompanied by a fake swoon and frantically fluttering eyelashes.

Caroline just rolled her eyes. "Keep your hands on the wheel. And anyway, Hercules is a hero. And Klaus—"

"Was abandoned by his parents at a young age, trained incredibly hard to fight, and would do practically anything for you." Katerina finished her sentence.

"Why are you all so stuck on me getting together with Klaus?" Caroline asked hotly.

Katerina shrugged. "You'd be good for each other."

"No, we'd be terrible for each other. We'd get together, have sex, and then he'd ask for another handler and leave me. And," Caroline continued quickly, realizing Katerina was about to interrupt, "even if he didn't, I don't know if I could handle being with someone like him. He's so…cold. I always feel like he doesn't see me as a person. I'm worried that—"

"You think he'd get tired of you," Katerina finished for her quietly.

"No, that wasn't what I was going to say."

"But it was what you were thinking."

Caroline was silent for a few minutes as they drove.

"Listen, Care…Obviously I don't have a say in your life or your choices, but for people like us…in this line of work, I mean, it's hard to find love. I think you owe it to yourself to figure out if you and Klaus could work."

"Are you sure we're talking about me, here?"

Katerina gave her a grim smile. "When you're born into the organization, it can be very lonely. My sisters and I were lucky, because we had each other, but often couples have only one child, or the children are far apart in age. After my parents and Tatia…died…it was very lonely for us. Elijah and I actually started as a one-night-stand, you know. I didn't realize it at the time, but he was in love with my sister, and I think he was looking for comfort. The three of us—Tatia and Elena and I, I mean —all look very similar.

"It was incredibly awkward for awhile after that, but after a few months I got sick of it, and I pulled him aside and told him that it was fine to be in love with my sister, and that I was upset that I was a replacement, but that he needed to stop avoiding me like the plague so that we could get on with our lives. We sort of became friends after that, and then a few months later we were taking a walk and he kissed me.

"I pushed him away and told him that using me once was my limit, and I walked away. He spent six months trying to convince me that he wanted _me _and not Tatia. I almost didn't give him a chance, but Rebekah managed to talk some sense into me, and I'm happy that I did."

"And so let me guess," Caroline said, "Now you're trying to pay it forward?"

Katerina gave her a slight smile. "I suppose."

They pulled into the drive, and walked up to the porch together. Caroline unlocked the door and they both hung up their coats before starting upstairs to their rooms.

"Goodnight, Kat."

"Goodnight, Care."

Caroline turned to go to her room.

"Just give some thought to what I said," Katerina said quietly.

"Yeah, sure."

She kicked off her boots flopped backwards on the bed, letting out a huffy breath. She _should _feel like she deserved better than an unfeeling violent asshole.

But if she was honest with herself, she couldn't really think of many things for the cons list besides the two big ones: unfeeling and violent.

Unfortunately for her sanity, he had proved multiple times that he could, in fact, feel something for her—though she still wasn't quite sure what it was—_and_ that he could reign back his impulsive fits of violence for her.

Still though, that didn't change the fact that he didn't feel anything for anyone besides her, or that he was violent in general.

_But his job basically _is_ to commit violence and be apathetic to human life._

True that, logical voice, true that…

As much as she wanted to give it a chance, she also didn't want to get hurt. Again. She'd had enough bad boys in her life so far, thankyouverymuch, and she had no wish to change that declining trend.

Unfortunately, a little part of her didn't want to listen to the rest of her rational mind, and she couldn't help but feel that the little part of her in question would eventually take over.

She also couldn't help but feel that "eventually" was probably a lot closer than she thought it was.

* * *

**December 26****th****, 2012**

Stefan closed the novel he was reading and replaced it on top of the rest of the pile of books that Caroline had given him for Christmas. He had to hand it to his best friend, she knew him well. It had been less than thirty-six hours since he had received them and he had already finished two.

He checked the clock and saw that it was approaching four in the afternoon. Resolving to start dinner early (he had a new recipe that he wanted to try involving over two hours of prep-work), he headed downstairs to ask Klaus if he was willing to have chicken.

Not that Klaus had any say in what Stefan made, but he had a right to know if he needed to fend for himself for the night.

Stefan knocked on Klaus's door and there was no answer. Stefan tentatively cracked the door open to see if he was just too absorbed in his work to hear (which often happened), and had to keep his jaw from dropping.

Klaus had a tackboard that he kept sketches on, usually because he either was planning on painting them or they provided some sort of inspiration. Almost every inch of the tackboard was covered with sketches of Caroline.

Stefan warily entered the room, and inspected the canvas closest to the door, which depicted Caroline with a huge smile on her face looking at someone or something off the canvas. There were more scattered around the room, ranging from some that were half-started with only sketchy outlines to some that were almost completely done.

Caroline on the day of her very first mission, clutching a cup of coffee and looking excited and nervous; Caroline in a short silver paneled dress that she had borrowed from Katerina, her hands on her hips and an angry fire in her eyes; Caroline in the black dress the day she got her ring; Caroline at the bar talking to Wes; Caroline in her pajamas standing against a counter with her eyes closed in obvious bliss eating a scone…

Caroline lying in a bed, a sheet twisted around her torso with her hair spilling around her like a halo, exuding some sort of inner light.

That one was the most detailed, and the closest to being done. There was a tiny furrow in her brow, and her lips were slightly parted. Her fingers were clutching the blanket near her, and her arm was wrapped around the edge of a man's naked torso. Stefan had the strange feeling he'd seen it before.

It clicked suddenly. It was very similar to the photo he had sent to Katerina when Klaus had been sick.

He heard the door creak behind him and turned to see Klaus entering the room. "Enjoying my work?" He asked dryly, gesturing towards the canvas that Stefan was admiring.

"It's good," Stefan said quietly, "But why Caroline?"

Klaus shrugged. "Why not Caroline?"

Stefan had the feeling that Klaus had answered that question from other people multiple times before.

"No offense, man, but you seem kind of obsessed."

Klaus shrugged again. "She's a good subject. She's beautiful and has a fantastic array of facial expressions. Her eyes are expressive."

"I think it might be more than that, considering you were ready to tear out my inner organs if I didn't get you a date with her."

"It is," Klaus agreed quietly.

They both turned back to the painting. "Would you like to see my favorite one?" Klaus asked quietly. When Stefan nodded, Klaus led him over to a painting near the back wall of the room that Stefan hadn't noticed.

Caroline was in a side-stance, her lip bit in concentration, as she gripped a knife in her hand, poised to throw it. Her eyes were narrowed slightly in determination, and for some reason, Stefan couldn't take his eyes off of her.

Klaus had depicted her so perfectly not just in physical form, but in the subtle uncertainty in her eyes, the undertones of her expression.

Katerina had pulled him aside the day before during Christmas breakfast and told him about the conversation she and Caroline had in the car. He honestly hadn't been all that surprised. He knew that Caroline was attracted to Klaus, and he also knew that she needed some reassurance that Klaus's feelings were actually _feelings _and not lust in order to even consider a relationship with him.

"Not that I'm commenting on Caroline's feelings, because I'd never tell you how she privately feels about you or whether she's interested, but I will give you my opinion."

"Interesting disclaimer. Go on."

Stefan nodded. "Yeah well, if she asks I can honestly say I didn't tell you anything that she's told me or Kat. Plausible deniability, and all that good stuff. My _opinion_," he emphasized, "is that she made a very important confession on Christmas Eve. And though _I _can't tell you anything, it's not my fault if other people, particularly her roommate, can't keep a secret to save their lives."

Klaus snorted. "Remind me to never tell you anything I want to be kept private."

"But then I would never learn all your weaknesses," Stefan joked, a grin on his face.

"Yes, that's why your hair is so big. It's full of secrets," said Rebekah's amused voice from behind the door.

"Hey," Stefan said grinning as Rebekah carefully stepped around all of her brother's art equipment to give Stefan a quick kiss.

"You promised me dinner," she reminded him.

"Oh, did I?"

"Wipe that fake innocent look off your face, Salvatore. I want food."

Stefan laughed. "And who am I to deny the lady what she desires?"

Rebekah snorted and pulled him out of Klaus's art room to the kitchen.

* * *

**December 29****th****, 2012**

Katerina stood directly behind Caroline, observing her technique as she threw the knife repeatedly at the target.

For having only been learning for a little under two weeks, the other girl was surprisingly good. They had decided to restrict her to practicing from up to twenty feet away as a maximum. It was a good starting area, and, at least when she was on the same team as Klaus and Stefan, it was unlikely that she'd have to throw a knife from farther away than that.

Today, Katerina was helping her practice on a stationary target about ten feet away. This would have been relatively easy for Caroline had it not been for the four-inch stilettos Katerina had lent her for practice. If she had her way, Caroline would be hitting moving targets from thirty feet in five-inch heels by the middle of January.

Klaus had come to her the other day because Stefan couldn't keep his mouth shut about what Caroline had told her on Christmas Eve (which Kat had, in turn, told Stefan about the next morning). Katerina was slightly thankful that Stefan had tattled instead of her, because while Stefan was Caroline's best friend, he didn't have to live with her.

Caroline had insisted that she needed some review before Klaus came to help her that day, especially since she refused to practice in heels unless it was only Katerina there.

Unfortunately for Caroline, Katerina may or may not have texted Klaus that he might be interested in arriving a teensy bit early.

Katerina made sure that Caroline wasn't facing the door. She felt slightly bad for her friend, but Katerina had noticed the change in Klaus over the last few months, and frankly, she was done being terrorized by him. If that meant she had to go against her roommate's wishes, then so be it.

Let it never be said that Katerina Petrova didn't look out for herself.

It didn't hurt that they would be good for each other anyway, which prevented Katerina from feeling like a terrible friend.

The other girl was so absorbed in her task that she didn't see Klaus come through the door, but Katerina did, and she smirked at the look on his face.

**XXX**

She was going to be the death of him.

He had seen many women in exercise clothing before. In fact, he had seen women in _less _exercise clothing. Lots of those women were objectively more beautiful than Caroline. But none of those women could radiate light and warmth like Caroline Forbes. Throwing a knife. In four-inch heels.

And those gym shorts.

_Those gym shorts_.

That arse and those legs would give him a heart attack one day, he was absolutely sure.

He noticed Katerina's smirk out of the corner of his eye and shot her a warning look. The longer he could stand behind Caroline without her noticing, the happier he would be. Unfortunately, Caroline must have noticed the fact that Katerina was staring over her shoulder and turned around to see him behind her. A faint blush rose to her cheeks and she shot Katerina a death glare before carefully set the knife down on the table next to her.

"You're early."

"Yes. I see that you have been training with Katerina."

She crossed her arms over her chest and stood in that angry stance that she did with that fire in her eyes and her hip jutted out and _fuck _he was a goner.

"I'll see you later," Katerina said, turning to leave.

"Seriously?"

"Well, your real teacher's here," Katerina said slyly, "Talk to you when you get home, Care."

He was fairly certain he heard Caroline mumble something that sounded like, "fucking traitorous bitch," but he didn't comment.

"You're welcome," Katerina muttered under her breath when she passed him as she sauntered out the door.

"All right," he started, trying very hard to keep his voice level, "Can I see you throw the knife from here?"

She nodded and started to loosen the ankle straps so that she could slip off the shoes. He debated telling her to keep them on, but thought better of it, especially since taking them off involved her bending over.

An hour later, she was hitting the area close to the bullseye almost every time from twenty feet away, and he asked her whether she'd like to be done for the day. She was sweaty and out of breath, and she nodded, grabbing a bottle of water from the table.

"You did really well today," he said.

"Thanks."

"Katerina said you had some interesting things to say on Christmas," he said, attempting a cocky smile that came out more like a nervous one.

"I'm going to kill her," Caroline muttered.

"You can try, but I doubt you'll succeed," Klaus said lightly.

She suddenly laughed, which surprised him. "Wow, Klaus. The faith."

"I have plenty of faith in you Caroline. Unfortunately, to kill Katerina you'd need more experience than faith."

"I guess."

"So, about Christmas."

Caroline let out a harsh breath. "Yeah? What about Christmas?"

"You think I'll tire of you."

"I _know _you'll get tired of me."

"I disagree."

She shrugged. "That's nice for you."

"I know you think that I want a strictly physical relationship with you, Caroline. Though I am still not quite certain what…feelings…I may have, I do know that they are not entirely lust-based."

She snorted. "You don't have feelings."

He smiled slightly. "I like to think that I do."

She turned to him, and narrowed her eyes a little bit, assessing him. "I don't think so."

He shrugged. "You haven't died yet."

Though he was trying to convey it as a serious point, she seemed to think it was funny. "That's true," she said, smiling, "But who says that I'll stay alive?"

He frowned. "Of course you will."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I won't let anything happen to you, Caroline."

She rolled her eyes. "Is that what you say to all the girls?"

"No," he said, his honest answer coming out before he could think it through.

They were silent for a moment, and she seemed to resolve some sort of internal struggle.

"Just so you know," she said, stepping towards him, "you are _very _lucky that I have an unhealthy amount of enjoyment for Christmas."

"Am I?" He asked, a little bemused.

"Yep," she said cheerfully, "But don't think this is a 'yes,' this is a 'you have an opportunity to prove to me that I should _say_ yes.'"

And then her lips were on his, and all coherent thought escaped him in that moment. The kiss was soft at first, but once he realized what was happening, his hands were resting gently on her hips to hold her against him as he devoured her mouth, nibbling on her lower lip and sucking lightly on her tongue making her moan. She gripped onto the front of his Henley and matched him in every way, her lips moving with just as much ferocity as his.

He pulled away slowly and observed her, flush-faced with puffy lips and bright eyes. She smiled shyly at him.

"I'll make the most of this opportunity, I promise."

Her smile grew, and she kissed him again. He responded, pulling her even closer to him. Before it could go any further, she pulled away. "I need to head home. We can talk next time."

"Good night, love."

"'Night, Klaus."

He didn't need to prove anything. He had her now, whether she liked it or not.

But he'd humor her, just this once.

* * *

**A/N: I know this one is a teensy bit shorter than usual, but it ended at a good place, and I didn't want to ruin that. :)  
Yes, there are two Mean Girls references in here. Couldn't resist. Sorry.  
I hope the build-up worked for you guys. I tried to make it as natural as possible, but feedback ALWAYS helps!  
****Outfits are up on Polyvore, as usual. The link is on my profile here AND on my tumblr which is now a thing. thetourguidebarbie . tumblr . com  
****I know I keep saying I'll update on Thursdays now, and I really will (starting next week). I just happened to have a final that threw me off :P  
******Thank you so much for reading! Please give me your feedback, as it is the only way I will get better!****

**Hugs!  
-Angie**


	10. New Beginnings

**A/N: Hello, all! Thank you so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! I'm so glad that you guys are still enjoying this :)  
I hope you like this chapter. It's kind of filler-y in terms of plot, but it's got some good emotional development, which, in my opinion, is just as important.  
Thank you to wondygal! You are the most fabulous beta ever! :D  
And thank you to Giulia for helping me translate the Italian bits (because Google Translate is awful and sad).  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**December 29****th****, 2012**

What the _fuck _was she thinking?  
_Had _she been thinking?

No. No, she really hadn't.

She sighed, letting her head fall with a thump onto the steering wheel of her car and groaning when she made the horn blare by accident. She had been parked in her driveway for the last half hour reflecting on her life choices and came to the conclusion that, though there really wasn't anything that she could do to improve her situation at this point, she made shitty ones.

Like, _really _shitty ones.

Kissing Klaus. Who _does _that?

_You, Caroline. You do that. Congratu-fucking-lations, you just gave into the flirtations of a mass-murdering psychopath._

"Shut up, conscience," She mumbled, deciding that she had to face the Cheshire-Kat (and yes, she _did _just make that up, but she's pretty sure that it applies) sooner or later, and unbuckling her seatbelt.

Sure enough, Katerina was standing in the front hall, a giddy smile on her face. "I was wondering how long you were going to spend sulking in your car."

Caroline just gave her the filthiest glare she could possibly come up with. Unfortunately, Cheshire-Kat—yep, she was definitely going to use that from now on whenever Katerina looked _entirely _too pleased with herself—didn't drop what Caroline secretly referred to as the "I just got my brains fucked out by Elijah" face, and instead moved closer. "Well? What _happened_?"

Caroline stayed silent.

"Come _on,_ Care. Tell me."

"You are a terrible friend," Caroline mumbled, brushing past Katerina to get a glass of sparkling cranberry juice.

Katerina jutted out her lower lip, and Caroline didn't think she had ever seen a less apologetic pouty face in her life. "I was just trying to…pay it forward."

_Bitch. _

"Well, you'll be glad to know that it worked."

"Did it?"

"We kissed," Caroline said shortly.

"Oh my god, _finally_."

"Kat, _seriously_?"

"Well?"

"Well what?" Caroline asked irritably.

"How was it?"

"As I recall, you've kissed him before, so you'd know."

"Is that jealousy I'm detecting?"

Caroline huffed and stood up, chugging the rest of her juice, rinsing out her glass, and putting it in the dishwasher—she could already _feel _the oncoming stress cleaning rampage—and then sank back into her chair at the table across from Katerina.

"Look, Kat, in all seriousness, I just…I'm scared, okay? I feel like I'm making a mistake, and I'm…confused, I guess. He's done terrible things, and I know you've all done terrible things, but it's like he _revels _in it. He _likes _being a murderer."

Katerina shrugged. "Welcome to The Travelers. Population: mass murderers, the children of mass murderers, and you."

Caroline snickered before she could stop herself. "Yeah, but like, I don't know. I guess I just feel weird about it."

"He won't hurt you," Katerina said bluntly.

Caroline shrugged. "I know _that_. I guess I just never wanted this for myself. The whole mercenary thing, I mean. I just…I had _plans_, you know? I wanted to go to college and get my degree in public relations…I wanted to do big things, change the world…Then maybe get married, have kids…"

"Wow. Small goals," Katerina said sarcastically.

"I don't do things half-assed, Kat. Hello? Type A personality, here."

"So, don't half ass your relationship with Klaus."

Caroline glared at her.

"You seem like the kind of person that does New Years' Resolutions and actually sticks to them."

Caroline nodded slowly, not liking where this was going.

"Might I suggest making a New Year's Resolution to give Klaus an actual chance? Or were you going to make some stupid one like reading more or going jogging every day?"

"I didn't have any in mind."

Her planned one had, in fact, been to go jogging every day, but she wasn't about to admit it.

"Well, congrats, you have one now."

"No, Kat. You don't get it."

"What don't I get, exactly? You like him, he likes you, and you apparently had a kiss that was so good it was worth second-guessing your life for. So Care, let's be real here: You know this is going to happen. Stop trying to sabotage yourself."

"I'm not. I'm _really _not. This just isn't what I wanted for myself. I wanted a career, and a picket fence, and—and _romance._ I want an _epic love_."

"And who says that Klaus can't be your epic love, Caroline? Why are you so set against trying to make this thing with you two work?"

"Because it _won't _work."

Katerina ran a hand through her hair, suddenly looking incredibly irritated. "You're just afraid of failing."

"Maybe I am, but at least I acknowledge my weaknesses."

Katerina let out a cruel laugh. "No, you don't. You are terrified of failure, but I'm almost one hundred percent sure that your real fear is of the loss of control. You want to stay in your comfort zone forever. Unfortunately for you, cupcake, you are smack in the middle of a town that doesn't give a shit about what you're comfortable with. The second you walked over the town line, you threw your high-and-mighty morals behind, and you don't want to admit it. You don't want to acknowledge that there is a part of you that _likes _that such a terrible man fell for you, and you don't want to admit to yourself that there are more similarities between you two than you'd let on."

"That's not true. I'm _nothing _like him."

Katerina gave an elegant shrug of her shoulders, a malicious smile on her face. "Look, Barbie, real-talk: You need to get the fuck over yourself. You aren't in your goddamn dollhouse anymore. You shot a man in the stomach less than a month ago and barely cried over it. You've been learning how to _throw a knife _for the last few weeks for the sole purpose of knowing how to kill someone. That isn't self-defense and you know it.

"You either need to stop denying the truth, which is that you're just as much of a killer as the rest of us, or you need to go find a unicorn to pet and some bunnies to cuddle _far away from here_."

"That isn't true."

"Really? How long have you been secretly lusting after the one guy in this town that is _guaranteed _a one-way ticket to a special place in Hell? How long have you been wallowing in self-pity and guilt because the _angelic_ and _pure_ Caroline Forbes can't stand knowing for just _one second_ that she might want to try a relationship with a sociopath that seems to have an abnormal fondness for her?"

Caroline felt blood rush to her cheeks—though she wasn't sure whether it was due to embarrassment or anger—and felt tears prick at her eyes.

"Shut up."

"No," Katerina barked, "I will _not _shut up. I will _not _let you throw this opportunity away like you're about to."

"_Opportunity_?" Caroline screeched, "How is this an opportunity? You're trying to make me have a relationship with a fucking psychopath."

"Maybe I am," Katerina said, her eyes also filling with angry tears now, "But I'm also trying to make you have a relationship with the best damn thing that's ever happened to you, and you know it. He'll put you first. He'll take care of you. He'll _listen_ to you."

"There are plenty of people that will put me first and listen to me!"

"Oh, yeah? And where are they?" Katerina asked harshly, not pulling any punches, "Where are these men that value you above all others? I don't see any. And frankly, and I'm saying this as your _friend, _Caroline, you deserve better than men who want you as an afterthought, and none of the men around you are good enough for you, except _him._"

"And why do you get to decide who's good enough for me?"

"I don't," Katerina said sharply, "But I have a feeling that all I'm doing is giving a voice to your gut feeling, which you should probably stop ignoring by New Year's Eve, because I have a funny feeling that _someone _will be coming over to take you to the party."

Caroline was silent for a moment, stewing in her own thoughts, before wiping her eyes roughly. "What if it doesn't work? It'll be all my fault for dating him in the first place."

Katerina's face softened slightly before she slid out of her seat and briskly walked over to pull Caroline into a hug. Caroline clung to her, sobbing on her shoulder. "I'm a t—terrible pers—son. I w—want a relationship with K—Klaus, and he's _awful_. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm s—so mad at m—myself. I c—can't believe I f—fell for him. I'm s—so st—stupid."

Katerina let her cry herself out for a bit, until her sobs became hiccups and then slightly more even breathing. "No you're not," Katerina finally said softly, "You're human."

Caroline gave a bitter laugh, which was slightly muffled by Katerina's angora sweater. "That's the thing. He has me on this…this pedestal. I can't live up to it. He'll get bored because I'm not the way he thinks I am, and then…" She trailed off.

Katerina snorted. "Caroline, if he was going to kill you, he already would have. He _does_ really like you. It's actually kind of disturbing."

Caroline pulled back, wiping her eyes a bit more. "If you say so."

"I do say so," Katerina said cheerfully, her mood seeming to have completely reversed, which was slightly disorienting, "But there's no harm in putting you in the tightest dress that was ever made, just in case."

Caroline snorted. "Bitch."

Katerina shrugged. "Hey, I do what I can."

"Either way, not tonight. I'm going to bed."

_I'm going to go sit in my room and think about my life choices._

"Little early, isn't it?" Katerina asked, glancing at the clock.

She was right, it was only nine-thirty at night, but Caroline was emotionally drained, and she said so, adding that she was going to be busy for awhile anyway and she might as well get some rest now without thinking about the way it could come out sounding.

Katerina cackled in a rather disturbing way. "Oh, I see how it is. Have _fun_ and think Klausy thoughts!"

Caroline groaned and flipped Katerina off while she walked up the stairs.

**XXX**

"You look happy," Stefan said.

Klaus grinned at him and dropped his keys in the bowl by the door. Yes, he _was _happy.

Caroline had finally given into the inevitable and agreed to be with him. Of _course _he was pleased. "Caroline kissed me," he informed Stefan cheerily.

Stefan frowned. "Look, I know that I sort-of told you how she felt, but you didn't pressure her into it, did you?"

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "What kind of man do you think I am, Stefan?"

"A sociopath that decided that the one person he wanted to have feelings for is my best friend."

"I'm not a sociopath. And even if I was, I'm not fond of labels," Klaus said calmly, a mischievous smirking making its way onto his face before he continued, "Well, any labels besides 'mine'."

Stefan seemed to be somewhere between laughter and a panic attack, and Klaus just shook his head and walked up the stairs, effectively ending the conversation, and reflected on the evening.

Yes, Caroline had kissed him. He sat down on his bed and pulled out his sketchbook, beginning to trace the lines of her face. He wanted to have the memory of her standing in front of him, flush-faced from his kisses, recorded—not that he'd ever have to go without the real thing, but it was best to have some sort of back-up just in case.

He would have to start planning. She said he had to prove to her that she should say yes. In his opinion, she already had said yes, but unfortunately, at least in this situation, it was her perspective that mattered—at least until he could make her see things correctly.

He sighed, continuing to shade the lines of her face.

She _would _say yes. He knew that. He would make sure of it. The first step would be to plan a date for her. He would take her to the town gathering for New Years Eve, and she would have a lovely time, and then she would realize that she was his—if she hadn't already; she was generally quick on the uptake, after all—and that would be that.

She would never leave him.

He wouldn't let her.

* * *

**December 30****th****, 2012**

"Bonnie!"

Kol saw her pause for just a moment, and smirked to himself as he caught up to her. "We haven't talked lately. How are you?"

"Doing really well," Bonnie said, smiling, "You?"

She seemed to be in a good mood today, for which he was glad. It seemed like there were some days where she was his best friend again and some days where she avoided him like the plague.

His family came to the Virginia location fifteen years ago, when he was six, and the only other children to play with were his siblings and the Petrova sisters (all the others his age had been transferred to Mystic Falls from other locations in his mid-teens).

Bonnie's grandmother, Sheila, had moved to Virginia from the New Orleans location when her sister Qetsiyah got engaged to Silas. Sheila's daughter Abby got pregnant and ran away from home with the father. Sheila kept tabs on Bonnie, but never met her, as it wasn't safe to communicate with her.

Kol had been eleven when he had found Bonnie reading on Sheila's balcony swing. Abby had apparently mysteriously disappeared and left Bonnie with her father, who knew nothing of the organization and paid very little attention to his daughter. As soon as she'd heard, Sheila had visited Bonnie and brought her to Mystic Falls.

Her father thought she was dead.

Kol had immediately been intrigued by the insanely smart nine-year-old with the big green eyes and an oversized army jacket, and had gone out of his way to include her in their group, which paid off in Bonnie becoming his best friend.

They had been inseparable, even through Kol's training, which had involved countless week-long missions away from Mystic Falls while she spent a huge amount of time shut up in the lab.

He had loved her for what felt like forever, and he was almost positive that she felt the same. He had been waiting for her to give him any overt sign of her feelings, but it seemed that every time she was close to admitting them she suddenly pulled away. He ended up losing his patience and had been trying to corner her for the past few weeks to talk to her about it. After speaking to Elena, he found out that Bonnie seemed to think that she wouldn't be able to give him enough time or attention.

This, of course, was utterly ridiculous, and, though he would never say it to her face, he had never thought Bonnie could be so stupid.

"I'm doing well," he said simply.

She nodded, beaming at him. They walked down the street in comfortable silence, both with their hands stuffed in their pockets and their breath coming out in misty puffs in the frigid air.

He walked her up to the front steps leading to the porch of the house that she shared with Rebekah, and cleared his throat as she inserted the key into the front lock.

"I need to talk to you," he said seriously.

She stiffened.

_Ah, so it begins, _he thought glumly.

"Well, I have things to do," she said, her voice suddenly cold.

He raised an eyebrow. "Really, now?"

She nodded.

"It seems like you always have _things to do_ whenever I have a chance at cornering you for a private conversation."

"Yeah, well, god forbid you actually lay off."

He put a hand on her shoulder, and she automatically leaned into the touch, making him smile slightly. "Why are you avoiding me, Bonnie?"

"Because you're persistent and it's annoying."

He frowned. "Try again, darling, and tell the truth this time."

She narrowed her eyes. "Because you won't take a hint."

"Hmm, no."

"Because we're _friends, _and I want to keep it that way."

He sighed. "Bonnie, if I believed you for a second I _would _leave you alone, but I don't, so I won't. Why won't you just give it a chance?"

"Because I don't want to," Bonnie said, gently removing his hand from her shoulder so that she could pull the key out of the lock and pocket it, apparently determined not to let him inside.

"Yes you do, Bonnie, I know you do. Tell me the truth!"

"Why are you so set on this? There are a thousand other girls you could have, go find one of them."

"See," he said, running his hands over her upper arms, his face devoid of his usual smirk, "And that's why. You think that you're not good enough, you think that I won't value you and I'll run off with someone else. You're being ridiculous Bonnie."

She shook her head. "Oh, I _know _I'm good enough, but I can't give you what you need Kol. I have so much going on, and—"

"See, and I don't _care _what you have going on. I have waited _years _for this, darling. I have loved you for a decade. A fucking _decade_, Bonnie," he said angrily, a direct contrast to his gentle grip of her shoulders.

"That is bullshit. You were eleven. You didn't even know what love was."

"Maybe I didn't know then, but I know what it is now, and I _know_ I fell in love with you the minute I met you."

"That might be the most ridiculous thing that I've heard in my entire life."

"Why? I mean, clearly since you're such an _expert _on how I feel about you, since you think you _know _that I'll leave you, please, tell me about _my_ feelings Bonnie. Decode them, go on."

She sighed. "Kol, it won't work. I don't have time. I have obligations at the lab, and things to do…I don't have anything to give."

"That is the biggest lie I have ever heard you tell, Bonnie Bennett," he said, pulling her firmly into his arms, one of his hands moving down from her shoulders to rest on her lower back, a smile growing on his face now that he realized that she was caving. She didn't resist his touch.

"You're scared, aren't you?"

She glowered at him. "Of course not, what is there to be scared of here?"

"Your mum left, your dad never looked for you, and when you got here the adults only had time for you when you were in the lab. You were lonely, and you felt abandoned, and you think that if you let yourself care about me too much, I'll leave you too."

"Stop trying to psychoanalyze me, Kol."

"Why? I'm right, aren't I?"

"I'm not scared."

"I think you are, Bonnie."

"Well, I'm not. If you're so _sure _about _my _feelings," She said, clearly mocking his earlier statement, "Please, tell me one thing that I would be scared of in this situation."

"I think that there are two, actually," he said, suddenly smirking.

He leant down until their foreheads were touching. "You're scared because I love you."

She rolled her eyes again, and began to pull away, but he held her firmly against him, though his grip was tender. He bent down so that her breath was ghosting across her ear. She shivered.

"And you're scared, darling, because _you _love _me._"

"That's ridiculous," she huffed, "I don't—"

He cut her off with a kiss, and she melted against him, snaking her arms up around his neck and pressing herself against him. He pulled back, kissing the tip of her nose. "See?" He asked, smirking.

"That was a _kiss_. Not a declaration of love," she argued, though she was grinning widely.

"True, darling, too true. However, no matter how long it'll take you to tell me, I already am aware that I'm not the only one in this relationship who has loved their partner for a decade."

"Relationship?" She asked, half-laughing, "When did I agree to this?"

He shrugged, pulling her against him so that her head rested on his chest, burying his nose in her hair. "I notice that you didn't deny the decade of love."

"Kol, I don't know…" She said, pulling away a little.

He firmly pulled her back against him, resting his chin on the top of her head. "Ah-ah, Bonnie, don't pull away now. I suppose that assuming you wanted a relationship _was_ rather presumptuous of me."

"Yep," she said, seeming to be trying to sound annoyed, though he could feel her smile when she spoke, her voice muffled against his chest.

He pulled back, looking her in the eye. "So, I'll ask you. Bonnie Bennett, will you let me love you for as many decades as possible?"

She snorted. "We're a little young for that kind of commitment."

"Always the realist, you are, darling."

"One of the reasons you love me," she said cheekily.

"I suppose that's true. Is that a yes?"

She sighed dramatically. "I guess."

The door swung open to find Rebekah in the doorway glaring at them. "If you're quite finished with your Disney Channel Original Movie re-enactment, I have things to do that require leaving the house. Are you through yet?"

"My apologies, Bekah," he said, winking at Bonnie, "I'll see you tomorrow, darling."

"Huh?" She asked, frowning.

He laughed. "The New Years party, Bonnie."

Her eyes went comically wide. "Oh, shit, I forgot."

"That's why I'm here to remind you," he said smugly, "I'll pick you up at Kat and Caroline's around eight, all right?"

Bonnie shook her head, looking as though she was trying not to burst into giggles. "Sounds good."

* * *

**December 31****st****, 2012**

All the girls were scattered around Katerina's large bedroom, which currently looked like Sephora expanded to include a dress boutique and had decided to set up shop. It was only noon, but they had already started trying on clothes and planning their make-up and hair.

Each of them had brought their collection of formalwear and cosmetics, and after the first hour or so, it had been decided that they would take turns being styled (or in other words, having large piles of dresses thrust into their hands, changing, and being judged).

It was lucky that all of them were somewhere in between a size four and eight, because Caroline wasn't sure how they would have managed the swapping any other way. A knee-length dress on Bonnie became a mini-dress on Rebekah, who was five inches taller, and a looser dress on Caroline looked like a potato sack whenever Katerina or Elena tried it on.

Nonetheless, they had fun pushing dresses on each other, and the rest of the group playfully catcalled each other when the girl came out of the closet. Caroline had learned that the town council hosted the New Years Eve party, and that it wasn't exactly ball-gown-formal, but everyone was expected to wear cocktail dresses.

Bonnie had been pushed into the closet first, a pile of dresses in her hands, and Rebekah had appointed herself as the final judge, rationalizing that, as his twin, she was the ultimate expert on Kol's tastes.

None of them bothered to point out to Rebekah that Bonnie could probably wear a muumuu and Kol would still think that she was the most gorgeous woman on the planet.

"Bonnie, you have a tiny waist, that doesn't do you justice," Rebekah said, studying the drop-waist peach dress that Bonnie was trying on, "You need to wear something that's tight around your stomach."

Katerina was nodding along with Rebekah before her eyes lit up. "Oh, I bought this great mini-dress last year. It'll look great. Hold on a sec," she said excitedly, nipping into the closet to look for it.

"Twenty dollars it's Hervé Leger," Elena muttered to Caroline.

Caroline shook her head, "No way. That's a stacked bet."

Sure enough, Katerina came back with a blue bandage dress with delicate mesh panels. She held it out to Bonnie, who obligingly went to the closet to try it on. When she came out, Elena immediately blurted out that it was perfect.

And it was.

There was a flurry for shoes and jewelry (Caroline donated a pair of bright orange heels to the cause, and Elena fished around in her jewelry box for a pair of black studded earrings), and soon Bonnie's outfit was sitting on the side, ready for her to dress in later.

They repeated this process for each girl in turn.

Katerina was pushed into a wearing a structured black (not Hervé Leger, for once) dress of Rebekah's that highlighted her curves beautifully.

The girls all banded together to convince Rebekah to wear a '20s inspired dress that apparently had been sitting at the back of her closet for over a year. She had been reluctant to take it out because it was so expensive (it had been a gift from Katerina, who Caroline was fairly sure had never heard the word "budget" in her life), but they eventually persuaded her that it was practically a crime to leave a dress like that to gather dust in a garment bag.

Elena seemed to have decided ahead of time on a pale pink dress and strappy beige sandals, and she wouldn't let anyone change her mind, no matter how "safe" Katerina called the dress.

Personally, Caroline thought that it was good that Elena could be trusted to wear something flattering but conservative because that saved everyone the time of trying to figure out which twin was which.

It was nearing the late afternoon by the time it was Caroline's turn, and Katerina and Rebekah had clearly decided ahead of time exactly what Caroline would wear. They shoved her in the closet with a white dress that belonged to Katerina and red patent-leather heels. She carefully stepped out and saw Rebekah and Katerina nodding to each other.

"You look great, Care!" Elena said, shooting her a huge smile.

"Thanks," Caroline said, smoothing the dress around her thighs, "I don't know if I'll be able to walk in these all night, though."

Katerina scoffed. "I practically live in those things. You'll be fine."

"And that," Elena mumbled, "Is why when we're old and grey, my feet will still be gorgeous and she'll have deformed arches."

"Your heels are higher than mine," Katerina said, frowning.

"Yeah, _tonight_."

Katerina scoffed, but seemed to pull a hair curler out of thin air and advanced on her sister, brandishing it like a weapon. "Sit down 'Lena, if you're going to dress like a grandma, you should at least have pretty hair."

**XXX**

"You look radiant."

And she did, too. The white dress hugged her curves in all the right places, and she had left her blonde hair loose around her shoulders. She looked like an angel, and Klaus had the urge to get right back in the car and drive home as fast as he could to record the moment on canvas.

"Thanks," Caroline said, a small smile on her face.

He offered her his arm, and she playfully rolled her eyes before taking it, allowing him to walk her to the town square, which was decorated with hundreds of tiny lights. She waved to Katerina, who was engaging his brother in what seemed to be a very animated conversation—at least on her end. There was a lot of arm-waving and nose-wrinkling.

What does one do at these sorts of parties when they had a date? He wasn't sure beyond the basics.

"Would you like a drink?" He asked.

Women liked being waited on, right?

She nodded, smiling. "Water would be great."

"Of course."

He absently hummed to himself as he filled her a water glass from the table on the side. He brought it back to her, and she thanked him politely.

"What do you do at these sorts of things?" Caroline asked, echoing his thoughts while she sipped from her glass.

"Me, personally? Hide in the boarding house and refuse to go."

She laughed. "Oh right, I forgot, you hate people."

He shrugged. "I suppose that I hate most people, but there are some that are worth getting to know." He shot her a sideways look, and she shook her head, smiling.

"True, I guess."

They stood in a comfortable silence for a moment before Caroline broke it.

"What was it like? Growing up here, I mean."

He was silent for a moment as he considered her question. She had asked before about his past, but never in such a broad scope, and he had always managed to deflect her questions. Something told him that this time she would not be so easily distracted, however.

Perhaps she was trying to see if he trusted her. He did, of course, but that didn't mean that he was comfortable sharing his life story. Unfortunately, it didn't seem that he had much of a choice.

How much to tell her, though, exactly?

"Well," he started off slowly, "As I've told you, we—my mother, my siblings, and I—moved to this branch when I was very young. Mikael, my mother's husband, was not a…pleasant person, and my mother wished to get us as far away from him as possible. They grew up in the organization as well, you see, and in those days it was incredibly frowned upon to marry outside of the organization. I suspect that it wasn't a happy marriage, though of course I was young when we moved.

"My mother then disappeared shortly after we arrived, causing my brother Finn to step into the role of caregiver, which he found daunting. We still don't know why she disappeared, but I personally think that Mikael had something to do with it. Though I don't know the whole story, from what I gather my mother had an affair with a man outside of the organization and got pregnant with me.

"He turned up dead shortly after I was born, of course. Not that I ever would have met him anyway. In any case, besides the Petrova sisters my siblings and I were alone in terms of companions our own age."

"But did you go to school, or anything?"

"No. Not public school, at any rate. We—most of the children born into the organization—don't technically exist. We don't file birth certificates or paperwork with the various governments at all. In our case, Alaric filled in as our primary tutor for the more mainstream subjects. He taught us maths and basic science, as well as history and English. There's a woman that teaches foreign language that travels from base to base as needed, and we studied with her for a few years."

"What other language do you speak?" Caroline asked, interested.

He smirked. "Così poca fiducia nelle mie abilità, amore mio?" Parlo sei lingue."

She gave him a confused look.

"Italian," he explained, smirking slightly, "I said that I speak six languages."

"That was a pretty long sentence for that short of a statement," Caroline said suspiciously.

He grinned. "La mia Caroline, tanto intelligente quanto bella."

She sighed. "You know I'm just going to look that up on Google Translate later, right?"

He smirked. "Of course, love."

"So, change of subject, what are we doing for training once I finish knife-throwing?"

"Well, at this point I believe that you can practice that by yourself, or at least with Katerina. There are a number of different things to choose from. We could move on to throwing things that aren't knives, or to other subjects completely, such as hand-to-hand combat."

There were other choices too, but at this point he would do pretty much anything to have an excuse to touch her. She seemed to know it too, by her expression.

"Maybe after I get a little bit better at knife throwing."

He shrugged. "Of course. We'll go at your own pace, love. However, you should know that we'll be fair game for missions again next week."

She nodded.

They chatted for awhile before Caroline excused herself to talk to Bonnie, and then he followed her around dutifully for the next few hours while she engaged in small talk, watching her face light up whenever she got to converse about something that particularly interested her. After she'd had enough, they sat down on a park bench to wait for the countdown.

When it finally came, he was nervous. Would it be overstepping the boundaries to kiss her again? He hoped not, but he didn't want to risk it when she had so recently decided to give in.

He didn't want to have to go through the whole process over again, it would be rather inconvenient.

He decided to let her make the first move.

"Ten! Nine!"

Caroline smiled at him, and he squeezed her hand.

"Eight! Seven! Six!"

He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and she rolled her eyes at the gesture, but blushed.

"Five! Four!"

She leaned towards him, and he felt his heart thump in his chest out of excitement for the first time in what felt like forever.

"Three! Two!"

They were nose to nose now, and she still had that secret smile on her face.

"One!"

He didn't know who moved first, but he gathered her towards him once his lips met hers, crushing them together, only pulling away for breath.

There were cheers and clinking of glasses all around them, but Klaus could only see her.

"Happy New Year, love."

"Happy New Year."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter :D  
The two things Klaus said (in order) are: ****"So little faith in my abilities, my love? I speak six languages." and "My Caroline, as intelligent as she is beautiful."  
****As always, feedback is appreciated. I hope that the Katoline fight was believable for you all, and that the New Year's party didn't seem too contrived. :) Please let me know your thoughts!  
****Outfits are on polyvore, and the link to that is both in my profile here and on my tumblr (thetourguidebarbie).  
****I'm also going to take this opportunity to shamelessly plug the 12 Days of Klaroline Smutmas event on tumblr, for which I am writing two stories for Turtle Doves and Dancing Ladies (Days two and nine, respectively). You guys should check it out :)  
****  
Hugs!  
****-Angie**


	11. Reality Check

**A/N: THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites! The plot is picking up now, and I hope you guys like it :D :D  
I'm posting this a little bit early because I know I'll sleep late tomorrow, and I feel bad delaying it till the afternoon :P  
Also, just to clarify: Personally, I'm a fan of both LoTR and Les Mis. Klaus's opinion does not reflect mine :P Camille will not be a love interest, don't worry. As far as it's planned now, she's only in this chapter (and a damsel in distress, at that). :)  
Thank you wondygal, you are fabulous as always!  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**January 5****th****, 2013**

"So all we have to do is find this kidnapped girl? That's it?" Caroline asked incredulously.

Silas raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes, Miss Forbes. That's 'it.'"

It wasn't that she didn't want to do it. She was just confused as to why retrieving a kidnapped 24 year old named—she scanned the brief again—Camille O'Connell was such a high profile case.

She looked at the photo that was paperclipped to the brief. It was shot from above, very clearly a selfie, of a pretty blonde girl holding up a Starbucks cup with her name on it.

"That's not basic," Caroline mumbled.

Stefan choked on a sip of water.

"Right, well. As 'basic' as she is," she could hear the unsaid _whatever that means _in Silas's voice, "Her uncle—the man who contracted me—hasn't seen her in two weeks. She's not answering her phone."

"Has he received a ransom note?" Klaus asked, looking over Caroline's shoulder at the girl.

Silas shook his head.

"She's most likely dead, then."

"It's unlikely," Silas said quietly.

"Why?" Stefan asked, having recovered his breath, putting his water glass down on the table.

"She's one of ours."

Klaus and Stefan shared a wary look, but Caroline was confused. "What do you mean 'one of ours'?"

"He means that she's from one of our other locations," Finn said quietly from behind her.

"So, you know her?" Caroline asked, confused.

"As you've most likely been told, I run the organization. This is our 'main base' so-to-speak. However, we have more than forty other locations around the world. I don't know all of our members personally. I have assistants who report back to me at every base," Silas said quietly, "She was from our New Orleans location."

"Is she a field agent?" Caroline asked curiously.

Silas shook his head. "No, otherwise—as callous as it sounds—I would not be so concerned. Miss O'Connell is training to be the trauma counselor at our New Orleans location, much like Miss Branson is here. She knows too much."

Caroline nodded. She'd met Lexi in passing a few times, and she seemed nice. From what she'd gathered, it was Lexi's job to counsel agents who'd lost their partners or family members, and as a result she knew more confidential information than almost anyone else.

"We'll find her," Stefan said reassuringly.

Silas nodded. "I have no doubt that you will."

"So, what's the plan?" Caroline asked, her mouth set in a determined line.

"Her tracker was dropped on the side of a highway in Oklahoma. Technically, she could be almost anywhere. We do have an idea of who took her, however."

"The Hunters," Klaus said quietly, his voice deathly serious.

Silas nodded. "Assuming that Oklahoma was on the way to wherever they were going, we have the locations of two of their bases in that area of the midwest—though there may be more than we've located. I had Donovan take satellite pictures of them."

Silas slid photographs of what looked like military bases paper-clipped to a map of the United States.

"Who are The Hunters?" Caroline asked, frowning at the map, which Klaus was inspecting carefully.

"An organization similar to ours," Klaus said quietly, "Though they're much smaller, and more territorial about jobs than we are."

"Territorial?" Caroline asked, confused.

Klaus just shook his head at her, and she realized that Silas was getting impatient.

"Miss Forbes, this will be a field mission for you as well as for Niklaus and Stefan. You are to survey the location, find Miss O'Connell, rescue her, and get out as quickly as possible. Do you understand?"

She nodded along with Klaus and Stefan.

Her first _real _field mission.

"Keep me posted," Silas said.

When they left, Klaus touched Caroline's shoulder lightly, and she turned around to see him giving her a serious look. "We're going to the gym."

"Why?"

"The Hunters are a group similar to ours. We're leaving in three days, and I'm not letting you on that plane until you can hold me off for at least fifteen minutes."

"_Letting _me? Klaus, this is my job."

He nodded. "Yes, and I told you that I would do everything in my power to keep you safe."

"But—"

"Caroline, are you really going to keep me from teaching you to defend yourself?" He asked her irritably, helping her with her coat and opening the door for her.

"No, no, it's not that. You don't _let _me do things, okay? I do them and you deal with it."

She saw his smirk out of the corner of her eye as he steered her away from the parking lot towards the nearest entrance to the Caves.

"Of course, love. Now, please text Katerina. She can bring you exercise clothing."

She didn't like his tone, but acknowledged that he had a point. She had no interest in dying.

**XXX**

"Again," Klaus ordered, blocking her punch easily.

She glared at him. "I need a break."

"The Hunters won't let you have breaks. They'll take advantage of your exhaustion. Try again."

"I don't even know why you're doing this. You won't even hit me, so how am I supposed to learn anything?"

"I will _never _hit you." He said, his voice deathly quiet and serious.

"So get someone else." Caroline suggested, shrugging.

He ignored her suggestion. "You won't be able to get a hit in on them if you can't even touch me."

She rolled her eyes, but, again, knew that he was right.

"Fine."

She punched him again and then threw her hands up in the air when he easily dodged. "How am I supposed to do this? You just keep dodging my punches."

"What were the instructions I gave you, Caroline?"

"You told me to try to punch you."

"No, I didn't," he said patiently, "I said 'Try to hit me.'"

She gave him an irritated look. "What's the difference, exactly?"

"You can't throw a punch," he said bluntly, "But you're perfectly capable of incapacitating an enemy in multiple other ways. As an example, where is your knife?"

"I don't have it with me."

"Why?"

"Because," she said, "You said we were doing hand-to-hand combat."

"And?"

She frowned. "And a knife doesn't count as hand-to-hand combat."

"Does it matter if it counts?"

She scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He gave her an intense look. "Caroline, they're going to try to kill you. There's no such thing as fair in this business. They bring a fist, you bring a knife. They bring a knife, you bring a gun. They bring a gun, you'd better be damn sure to have a better one."

She shook her head. "But…"

"No buts. You should have it with you at all times. Come with me, we'll get one from the closet."

She followed him, protesting the entire way. "Klaus, I'm not going to…to _stab _you."

He shot her a look over his shoulder as he fingered all the knives in the closet, apparently trying to decide which one to give her.

"You won't," he said simply.

"How do you know?"

He scoffed and didn't answer.

"No, seriously, how am I going to practice if I'm too afraid of hurting you?"

He snorted. "You're not going to hurt me."

"How do you know?" She asked, now more irritable than concerned, "What if I magically end up getting good at it, or you make a mistake."

He seemed to have found what he had been looking for, and pulled out a short knife that he was inspecting as he answered her, "In the event that you do land a hit it won't hurt."

"What do you mean it won't hurt? It's a _knife_."

He flipped it around in his hand once and then stabbed himself in the stomach.

She screamed, but he rolled his eyes and shoved the knife into her hand, gesturing down at his stomach.

There wasn't even a rip in his shirt.

"It's a practice knife. When you stab, the blade retreats into the handle. You won't hurt me."

"You're a dick. You scared the bejeezus out of me. And why did you ask me if I had my knife earlier if you were just going to use _that_?"

He shrugged, completely unconcerned. "To make a point. Are you ready to try again?"

She groaned and followed him back to the practice area.

* * *

**January 7****th****, 2013**

He let out a breath as Caroline landed a kick in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

"Omigod, are you okay?" She asked frantically, immediately dropping her fighting stance and taking a step closer.

He nodded, already completely recovered from his slip. "I'm fine," he reassured her, "That was really excellent. I'm proud of you."

Though he knew that she would never admit it, he could tell that she took his opinion seriously, and when he gave her a compliment like that she practically glowed.

This time was no exception, and she was practically bouncing with glee. "I kicked you!" She said happily, causing him to suppress a laugh.

"Let me take you out tonight," he said impulsively, smiling at her.

She frowned for a moment, clearly thinking that he'd complimented her just to have the opportunity to "celebrate."

"You're doing really well, and we're leaving tomorrow. It would be good for you to relax."

She was still looking at him suspiciously, but seemed to be talking herself into it.

"Casual or formal?" She asked in lieu of an answer.

"Casual," he said firmly, already sure of exactly what they were going to do, "May I pick you up at seven?"

"Should I eat first?"

"I don't think so."

"Great!" She said, giving him a bright smile, "I'll see you later. I need to clean up."

"All right, love."

She kissed him quickly on the lips before walking off, and he wasn't sure he'd ever stop freezing completely in surprise whenever it happened.

**XXX**

They stared up at the board where the movie times were, and Caroline was biting her lip.

"We can see whatever you want," Klaus said to her.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he was sure that he would regret them, the evil smile on her face speaking volumes. He would absolutely _not _like to see that Hobbit movie. Or even worse, what was sure to be an incredibly cringe-worthy musical film involving the French Revolution and American actors—never a good combination. He was proven wrong, however, when she picked a Tom Cruise action movie, which, while most likely not Oscar-worthy, at least didn't have magic or singing.

He obligingly went up to the ticket booth, and she stood a few feet away texting someone—most likely Katerina, judging by both the look on her face and that she kept twisting the screen out of his line of vision whenever he tried to spy on her—and smiled at the girl at the register, who he knew vaguely in passing, but couldn't remember her name.

Mystic Falls was a _very _small town, and it was difficult not to meet people, whether you went to public school there or not. "Hey, Nick!" She said, smiling, "How are you? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm doing well," he said, pulling out his wallet to try to speed things along.

"You look really good," The girl—Emma, according to the nametag—said, giggling.

"Thanks," he said, smirking as he felt Caroline stand beside him.

She put a hand on his shoulder and shot Emma a pageant smile before speaking. "Two for Jack Reacher, please."

To her credit, Emma looked slightly ashamed of her behavior. "Sure, of course," she said, ringing them up, before taking the cash Klaus handed her and speaking to Caroline. "I'm so sorry, I totally didn't realize you were together."

Caroline gave her a genuine smile. "It's totally fine, I get it."

"Enjoy your movie," Emma said, still looking a little bit uncomfortable.

Klaus handed her the ticket and led her to the concession stand.

"So, we're together, are we?" He asked, trying not to look too pleased with himself.

"I'm seriously considering it. I'll be more likely to say yes if you buy me popcorn," Caroline said, laughter in her voice.

"Of course, love."

A few minutes later, Klaus was looking at Caroline in disgust as she sipped from a large cup full of ice and some sort of neon blue artificially flavored syrup that was most definitely _not _a good color for food.  
"What is _that_?"

"This?" She asked pointing to the cup, which was decorated in bright primary colors with a dome cap, "This is an ICEE."

"A _what?_"

"An ICEE. It's, like, a snowcone in a cup."

"Is that a snowboarding polar bear?" He asked, wrinkling his nose and pointing to the side of the cup.

"Yep," she said happily, taking a sip and then holding it out to him, "Want a taste?"

"No thank you," he said, staring at it as though it might attack him.

Caroline giggled.

"Why are you so weirded out by it?"

"I'm not…'weirded out,' it just doesn't look edible."

She shrugged. "Well, you don't have to eat it, then."

"That's a relief," he mumbled, throwing his hands up in surrender when she glared at him, taking an extra noisy sip of her ICEE for emphasis.

"Let's go find seats, love."

"I hope that you don't think we're going to have sex in the back of the theatre," she mumbled when they sat down.

"On the second date? Do you think that low of me?"

She glared at him, but broke into a giggling fit at his added, "I'd wait until at _least _the fourth."

**XXX**

"I had fun tonight," Caroline said quietly, as they paused at the front door to her house.

"May I take you out again?"

"I guess," she teased.

"Excellent!"

She smiled at him and snaked her arms around his neck, pressing herself against him and capturing his lips with hers. His hands were immediately resting on her hips, pulling her towards him, devouring her.

She withdrew, pulling her keys from her purse and unlocking her door. "Good night, Klaus."

"Good night, love," he said, beaming.

She opened the door but paused before shutting it to say, "That's a yes, by the way," before immediately closing it and locking it behind her, only catching a glimpse of his gleeful face.

"So?" Katerina asked, entering the front hall from the living room.

Caroline shrugged, trying not to smile like a crazy person. "It went well."

"Good," Katerina said, pausing for a moment before continuing, "Elena and I are going on a mission tomorrow as well."

"You and _Elena_? I thought she didn't do field missions."

Katerina shook her head. "She usually doesn't. She only goes when I need to be in two places at once, or when the mission will benefit from having someone who doesn't hate people."

Caroline nodded slowly. "Okay, so why do I need to know?"

Katerina shrugged. "Papa asked me to help you pack, and I thought we could do it together."

"Why?"  
"Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt you know what to bring when you're actually planning on being in the field. I can help."

Caroline nodded. "All right."

Soon, Katerina was tearing through her clothes, trying to explain what things would be best.

"So, for missions like this you need clothes that allow you to move while not floating around you. The worst thing is to have an airy skirt that snags on something or a top that moves enough for someone to grab you with. It's why most of my clothes are tight."

Caroline nodded along as Katerina started setting things on Caroline's bed.

"You also want clothes that are neutral enough to not be memorable or noticeable, but not so neutral that they notice you trying to blend in. Also, don't hate me, but you're going to want to wear stretch jeans."

Caroline made a face, but conceded the point.

Once Caroline had packed all of the clothes she'd need, Katerina started showing her where she should store her weapons.

After they'd finished packing, Katerina bid her goodnight, and Caroline laid in bed, trying to figure out how she felt about all of this.

It would be her first real field mission, meaning that she'd be taking orders from Finn, but also working right alongside Stefan and Klaus. She would have to carry out their task no matter what.

She sighed, curling into her pillows, wondering how long it would take. Probably just a few days once they found her. She hoped it would be quick. If she was honest with herself, she was worried about what she'd do when she was in close proximity to Klaus. They'd be changing where they were staying a lot, and she wasn't sure how that would work. It wasn't up to her to arrange that, anymore. She probably should have talked to Finn earlier, but she'd forgotten.

She'd find out tomorrow.

* * *

**January 8****th****, 2013**

Camille O'Connell was many things, but "stupid" was not one of them. She'd been locked in a (rather surprisingly comfortable) room and had been given three meals a day, as well as movies to watch and books to read. She'd asked for a notebook and paper, and they'd denied her at first before she pointed out that she didn't exactly have the ability to write letters to people and she didn't know where she was.

Well, actually, she _did _know exactly where she was, but she wasn't about to tell them that.

She had found the security cameras in her room within two days, and had figured out that the only plug that worked was for the television.

Either The Hunters thought that she was an idiot, or they were absurdly confident in their security.

She decided to bet on the latter, if only for her ego.

All she had to do was wait for the right moment to contact the base. She didn't need to escape—she was fairly confident that once they'd found her that would happen in a timely manner—but she needed them to come quickly. They hadn't tortured her yet, and honestly she wasn't quite sure why (not that she was going to ask), but she took it as a good sign that she was involved in the bigger picture of a plan.

There was a knock on her door, and a woman entered, a tray in her hand. Camille thanked her politely—one shouldn't forsake their manners even when imprisoned, after all—and began to eat, knowing that the woman wouldn't leave until she'd finished.

She ate her sandwich daintily, before taking too big a bite and beginning to choke. She began to fake not being able to speak or breathe—fun fact: If you're actually choking you can't cough—and the woman immediately came over to help. The woman lined herself up behind her to do the Heimlich and Camille flailed around.

In fact, she flailed around to grab the woman's phone out of her pocket.

She smiled as the bread flew out of her mouth.

**XXX**

If Caroline had learned one thing in the last nine months, it was that she _hated _planes.

She wasn't afraid of them. She didn't hate the take-off or the landing. She didn't hate being thousands of feet in the air and not being able to see the ground. She didn't even hate the tiny cramped bathrooms on the plane (though they were incredibly disgusting).

She_ did_ hate being trapped in a small space next to someone that she didn't know who had decided that she was the perfect person to tell his life story to.

As he began to talk about his angry girlfriend for the fifteenth time, she inwardly groaned and cursed herself again for forgetting her headphones.

Klaus was in the aisle seat, clearly trying not to laugh at her predicament while he flipped through a magazine and ate gummy worms.

"I could knock him out for you, if you'd like," he whispered in her ear, his hot breath making her shiver.

She whacked him in the stomach, causing him to grin unrepentantly at her. "That won't be necessary."

A flight attendant arrived in the aisle with a cart. "Drink?"

"Seltzer water for me," Klaus said, before turning to her, "Juice?"

Caroline nodded. "Yeah, apple or cranberry is fine."

The flight attendant obligingly handed over a small can of juice and a plastic cup. While Put-upon-whiny-boyfriend-of-some-unfortunate-girl tried to decide what drink he wanted, Caroline immediately engaged Klaus in conversation.

"Where are we staying?"

He gave her a look that indicated that he knew _exactly _what she was doing—that is, trying to get him to save her from having to talk to the kid next to her—and smirked. "I believe a small hotel in Topeka. We'll start our road trip from there. I hope you're excited to see Great Overland Station. I've heard it's an excellent train museum."

"I can't wait," Caroline said dryly.

She was very glad that they weren't actually going to the train museum. She was pretty sure that she'd rather die.

Three hours later, two and a half of which Caroline had spent comfortably pretending to sleep on Klaus's shoulder, they'd all piled into their rental car and Finn drove them to the small hotel they'd be staying in. He got their room keys and led them to their adjoining rooms.

"Caroline, this is yours," Finn said kindly, gesturing to the one on the right, "You two are with me in here."

"Wait, I get my own room?" Caroline asked excitedly.

"Do you not usually have your own?" He asked, looking scandalized at the idea of her sharing a room with them.

She shook her head. "Nope. I usually share Stefan's bed."

Finn gave Klaus an exasperated side-eye, who rolled his eyes at his brother. "Brother, if it had been my grand master plan to have us all stay in one room, would Caroline have been sharing a bed with _Stefan_?"

"I apologize, Niklaus. It was not my intent to upset you."

Klaus snorted.

"Either way," Finn continued, "We shall be up bright and early tomo—" He paused, pulling out his phone and answering it. "Yes?"

He made some noises of agreement, thanked whoever was on the other line, and hung up.

"Miss O'Connell has managed to send a message. She is being held at a base approximately two hundred miles away. We'll depart in the morning."

Caroline entered her room and flopped down onto the bed.

The next day was sure to be hectic, but she found herself slightly excited.

* * *

**January 11****th****, 2013**

Klaus motioned for her to go around the hallway to Camille's room and get her out during the guard change.

They had been observing the base where Camille was being held for the past few days and were relatively sure that they would be able to get her out without anyone noticing until they were long gone. It was Klaus's job to keep anyone away from Camille's room. Stefan was hiding somewhere near the exit prepared to help them run at a moment's notice, and Caroline smiled as he let them know that it was all clear, and that this would be the best time.

She nodded at him and padded silently down the hallway towards the room that Finn had indicated was Camille's on the floor plan. There was a guard in front of the doorway, and just as she was preparing to pounce and knock him out from behind, he seemed to have heard her and whirled around, his hand halfway to the gun holster on his hip.

She acted without thinking, her body swirling on autopilot, and let the knife fly into his jugular.

He fell, blood gurgling through his mouth, and she stared at him wide-eyed, not able to process what she'd just done. She ran over to him, kneeling beside his twitching body. Blood was still spilling out of his mouth, his limbs shaking, his eyes wide and round and glassy, fixed on her face, but they weren't angry. They were pleading.

She looked at his body, which would slowly bleed out, and all she could think about was how this would be an awful way to die.

Bleeding out alone on a hallway floor staring into the face of your killer.

She rested a hand on his stomach, feeling the breaths recede, knowing that he was losing his life right in front of her.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, tears springing to her own eyes, before she dragged the knife across his throat, killing him instantly. She stared at his too-glassy eyes and his breathless body, and cried.

She was a monster.

She heard the door rustle and a woman's voice. "What's going on?"

Caroline hurriedly stood up, took the guard's gun. "Camille, I want you to back away from the door."

There was a moment's pause before Camille said she'd done so, and Caroline shot the knob of the door off, opening it.

She heard footsteps and whirled around, gun poised before she realized it was Klaus. His eyes glanced over the body on the floor before they turned to her tear-stained face. He was at her side in a second, quickly checking for any injuries and ignoring both Camille, who was standing rather impatiently in the doorway, and Caroline's attempts to shake him off.

"Love, we have to go," he said, once he was satisfied with her physical condition.

Caroline turned to Camille. "We're from the Mystic Falls branch. We're here to help. Follow me," she said hollowly, handing Camille the gun—she didn't have any way to defend herself—and stepping over the body of the nameless guard she had murdered, the nameless guard that hadn't even _threatened_ her.

She was going to be sick.

She vaguely heard Klaus speaking into his earpiece, telling Finn that they had Camille and were coming out, and felt him grab her hand and lead her out.

He helped her into the car and slid in beside her, grasping her hand. "We'll be back in Mystic Falls before you realize."

She didn't respond.

**XXX**

He frowned when Caroline told Finn that she didn't want to go to the house she shared with Katerina, but realized why when she shot him a pleading look after she'd said it.

He nodded and guided her through the night air to the door of the boarding house, Stefan trailing behind them, and led her towards the living room, immediately pouring her a glass of sparkling cranberry juice, which Stefan kept in the fridge for her.

She thanked him and he sat beside her, letting her snuggle against him. He could tell she needed comfort, but wasn't quite sure what to do.

What does one do in these situations, exactly? Physical touch was meant to be comforting, but he had a feeling that kisses or any touching of a sexual nature may not be well-received.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked hesitantly.

She shook her head, her face still buried into his chest.

"All right."

He let her stay there for awhile, and he could tell that she was crying. He rubbed her back and made what he hoped were comforting sounds. She looked up eventually, her eyes red and puffy. "Can I stay here for the night?"

He nodded. "Of course, love. Anything you need."

He helped her up and guided her to the guest bedroom that Rebekah used to frequent when they were teenagers.

He turned to leave, but she stopped him, laying a hand on his arm.

"Stay. Please."

She fell asleep quickly, curling into him for warmth and comfort. He could tell that she had been deeply disturbed by what she'd done that day, and he oddly understood. She wasn't used to hurting people. The mentality of "you or me, I choose me" seemed to have passed by her without sticking.

His Caroline wasn't meant to be a killer.

**XXX**

Katerina slung her arms around Nameless-rich-asshole's neck and swayed slightly off-beat to the dance song reverberating around the club. She was giggling at all his jokes, slurring her words, and generally acting as drunk as possible. "Let's go somewhere else," she breathed quietly in his ear.

He grinned and she giggled, swaying slightly as she dragged him past the bathrooms in the back. She knocked on the closet on the way, and Elena slipped out, an exact copy of Katerina in every way; her hair was curled to perfection, her identical dress (that she never would have worn in any other circumstances) hugging her figure perfectly.

Katerina had to give her sister credit, she didn't even wobble in those heels.

Giving her sister a small wave, Katerina dragged her prey out to the alley behind the building, pressing her mouth against his.

She let him run his hands down her sides before knocking him out with a needle hidden in a garter under her dress and dragging him out to the SUV. She dumped him in the back and Mason drove them across town. Inwardly hoping that her sister was in plain view of any law enforcement, she dragged Nameless-rich-asshole to a field in the park—close enough that he'd be found quickly, but out of the way of any security cameras, and slit his throat in a perfect, precise line.

Pleased with her handiwork, she and Mason drove back to the club and Elena joined them in the car.

"All good?" Her sister asked, strapping herself in and immediately pulling off her heels, flexing her toes.

"Yep."

They stopped at McDonalds for a late dinner, changing out of their dresses to more comfortable clothing, and continued their drive back to Mystic Falls.

"Wait, can you drop us off at the grocery store, Mace?"

"Sure. Should I pick you guys up later?"

"No, it's fine. Jules is probably waiting. I'll call Papa."

Mason nodded and pulled up in front of Stop-N-Shop, driving off as soon as they'd made it out of the car.

"I may or may not have finished all the Oreos after Care left. She'll be pissed if I don't get more," Katerina said, making Elena giggle.

It took what felt like forever to get to the register. Elena, being Elena, had decided to stock up on fresh organic produce and she spent at least half an hour in the fruit aisle squeezing apples until Katerina got impatient and dragged her out.

They were carrying their groceries across the parking lot when Katerina felt a presence near them. She turned to see a masked man with a gun pointed at them.

"Don't move," he snarled, before jerking his head to a large van in the parking lot.

"Get in the car."

Katerina and Elena were guided in and he took their phones immediately before closing the door on them.

When he sat down in the front seat, Katerina counted down on her fingers silently and when she hit zero, she and Elena jumped into action.

Katerina launched herself towards the front seat, knocking out the man with a punch to the head, and Elena dug out her phone from the glove compartment to call the base. Their grandfather arrived within minutes with Elijah, and he drove them home while Elijah took their attacker's car.

"What happened?" Silas asked.

Katerina recounted the story quickly, while Elena sat there in slight shock, twirling her engagement ring around her finger.

"We'll interrogate him tomorrow," Silas growled, sounding angrier than Katerina had ever heard him before.

* * *

**January 16****th****, 2013**

"I asked you a question, and I suggest you answer it before I have to make you. After all, I do very much enjoy the process of putting the 'fun' in 'funeral'," Katerina said wickedly, twisting the knife in her hands as she calmly circled the chair the captive was resting in.

He remained stubbornly silent, although it looked to be more out of fear than determination, and she raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Nothing to say? Hmm. What a _shame,_" she said slowly, each word rolling off of her tongue like poisoned honey.

She let her knife trail down his cheek and smirked at the bead of blood that dripped onto his t-shirt. He twitched.

He shook even more as her knife approached his arm, and she sighed dramatically. "You really should speak up, you know. I could do this all day."

Just as the knife was about to touch his upper arm he broke.

"Look, I don't know anything, okay? All I know is that this woman told me she'd pay me ten thousand dollars to kidnap you and your sister and bring you to the side of a freeway, or she'd kill my wife and kids."

"How did you find us?" Katerina asked slowly, as though talking to a small child.

"She gave me a tracker. It's in my coat, looks like a phone. Look, she was crazy, okay? I didn't have a choice."

"Anything else?"

"Will you let me go if I tell you?" He asked, looking hopeful.

Katerina rolled her eyes. "Well, let's just say that your life expectancy has a one hundred percent chance to lower to about thirty seconds from now unless you tell me everything you know."

"She said something about revenge on her one true love. I don't know why she wanted you or what she was going to do. She seemed pretty batshit to me."

"Qetsiyah," Katerina muttered.

"Bless you?" The guy in the chair said hesitantly.

Katerina snorted at his attempt at politeness, stowing the knife back in her belt.

"Okay, some friendly advice. Never tell someone who holds you hostage that you have a wife and kids. It's a terrible idea, haven't you ever heard of leverage?"

At the guy's blank look, she rubbed her temples.

"What's your name?"

"Slater."

_What kind of a name is Slater? Did his mom hate him, or something?_

"What do you do?"

"Huh?"

"What. Do. You. Do? What's your job?"

He looked confused. "I'm a computer scientist. I work in the IT department at a law firm in Richmond."

Excellent. He was useful.

Oddly, one of the most common ways they recruited was to find people like him who were in the wrong place in the wrong time. If they had some kind of useful skill, they would usually see the benefit in staying alive and working for them.

They offered on-site health care and free housing, after all.

"How about we make a little deal?" She asked.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading!**

**So, Caroline's had a bit of a moral crisis there. Klaus seems to be getting more comfortable with the concept of feelings. Kat and Elena were attacked by Qetsiyah... She seemed like she came out of the woodwork randomly... Or did she? ;)**

**Outfits for this can, as always, be found on polyvore; the link is in my profile. You can follow me on tumblr at thetourguidebarbie. :)**

**For those of you that aren't on tumblr, I wrote two one-shots for Klaroline Smutmas: Two Turtle Doves and Nine Dancing Ladies. Turtle Doves is up on my profile here (as well as on tumblr), and Dancing Ladies will be there too. They're both pure PWP, so you should check them out if you feel like it :)**

**Even though next Thursday is Christmas I should still have a new chapter up. ****To my fellow Jews, Happy Hanukkah! To all of you non-Jews, Happy Holidays! :)**

**Constructive criticism helps me get better, so please review and give feedback! :D :D  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	12. The First Strike

**A/N: I'm so sorry that this is so late. Thank you so much for your reviews, follows, and favorites :D :D  
For those of you that were concerned about Klaus's apparent mass murderer to fluffy bunny switch, this chapter should reassure you that he's not a very nice person.  
**trigger warning** This chapter has a torture scene. It also has smut (and don't get your hopes up, because it's not Klaroline smut, although that's coming up soon).  
Thank you so much to justanotherfiveminutes for helping me out with this ;)  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**January 12****th****, 2013**

She woke up gasping for air, terrified of herself. Every time she closed her eyes she saw him on the floor, blood spurting out of his mouth, eyes wide and accusatory.

_How could you do this to me?_

And she hadn't wanted him to suffer. She had felt bad looking at him and so she had slit his throat, tried to make it quick. Painless.

She'd felt his breaths shorten under her palm. Felt his lungs stop working. He had died under her, and she had knowingly killed him.

She felt Klaus stir beside her. "Nightmare?" He asked, his voice rough from his abrupt wake-up call.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay though," She said, calming her breathing.

"Good."

She sighed, flopping back down against her pillow, and he grimaced, pulling her closer to him. She heard him rustle behind her and the click that indicated that he was checking his phone.

"It's already about time I'd wake up anyway. I'm going to make some tea. D'you want some?" He asked, starting to disentangle himself from her.

She nodded. She'd noticed that he'd been trying very hard to be thoughtful, which definitely didn't come naturally to him, and she appreciated it.

She padded downstairs behind him, yawning as she watched him put the kettle on, her eyes fixed on his abdomen. By his smirk, she knew that he knew where her eyes were, but thankfully he didn't comment, choosing instead to sit beside her while they waited.

She could tell that he was steeling himself to say something that she might not like, and patiently waited for him to get on with it.

"Silas called around three. You slept through it. We're going out again on Tuesday."

"Okay?"

"Finn will be handling us again."

"…Okay?"

"I need you to tell me that you feel comfortable on the field," he said bluntly.

She bristled. "Of course I do."

"I was just asking, love. You seemed disturbed by—"

"I'm not _disturbed_. I'm fine. It was just…a shock, okay?" She said irritably, glad that he had to get up to pour the hot water into the teapot and re-fill the kettle.

"Well, I am…happy that you're feeling better."

"Me too," She said, and then desperate for a change of subject she asked, "What's the next mission?"

"Silas hasn't sent over the brief yet. I was just told that we had a meeting today at eight and to make sure that you had made your decision by then."

"You told him I was staying here for the night?" Caroline asked, a little bit angry that her personal life had been shared without her knowledge or consent.

"No. He already knew. I still haven't quite figured out how he knows everything that's happening on base as quickly as he does. It's irritating to say the least."

"So basically you're telling me that Silas thought that I wouldn't want to be a field agent anymore because I killed someone?" Caroline asked, a little bit hurt by Silas's assumption that she couldn't handle anything that came her way.

To be fair, she wasn't quite sure that she _was_ comfortable with it, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let it stop her from doing what she needed to do, especially now that Silas thought that she couldn't.

If there was one thing she was good at, it was proving people wrong when they underestimated her abilities.

He was silent as he dropped the teabag into the teapot and filled it, and then took a deep breath. "I know that you can handle yourself."

"Thanks," She mumbled.

"But I'd prefer you to not have to," He said quietly.

Her head snapped up to stare at him, and she was about to ask him whether he had some sort of knight in shining armor complex before she caught sight of his face. He was looking at her seriously, his mouth in a firm line. "The twins were attacked last night."

"_What_? Are they okay? Why haven't I heard from Kat? Why were—"

"They're fine," Klaus cut her off, "They subdued the threat. Silas suspects that whoever sent him didn't actually expect him to succeed. More of a warning than anything, I suppose. The more problematic part of it was that they were attacked at the grocery store in town. We have surveillance everywhere and we didn't catch it. Silas is…concerned for their safety. Everyone's safety, really."

Caroline nodded slowly. "Okay. Well, I guess we'll see what happens."

He made a small hum of agreement and he poured the tea into mugs, handing hers over. She took a sip and closed her eyes as she felt a pleasant warmth run through her.

"Thank you," She said quietly.

"Would you like me to drive you home? Or would you like to stay here until the meeting?"

"Home, I think."

He nodded and waited for her to finish her tea before grabbing his keys and leading her out to his car.

"I want you to do something for me," Klaus said quietly as they pulled up in front of Caroline's house.

"What?" She asked tiredly, running a hand through her hair.

"Promise me that you won't go out alone."

She glared at him.

"It's not because I think that you can't handle yourself, love. I just…Humor me."

"Sure, I guess," She mumbled, unbuckling her seatbelt, "Thanks for driving me."

She kissed him quickly. "I'll see you at eight at the offices?"

"Of course, love."

**XXX**

Katerina heard the door open and practically leapt up from her space on the sofa that she'd been nervously fidgeting in since she'd returned from the holding cells in the early morning. She rushed to the door to see Caroline calmly dropping her keys in the bowl by the entrance and grabbed her by the arm, tugging her to the living room, not even slightly mindful of her harsh grip.

"Ow! Kat, what the hell?" Caroline asked, yanking her arm away.

"Where the hell were you last night? Elijah said you got back, but you weren't here."

"IwasatKlausandStefan's," Caroline mumbled, so fast that Katerina could barely make it out.

"You were _what_?"

"I was at Klaus and Stefan's," Caroline repeated.

"Why didn't you text me?"

"Why would I?" Caroline asked, looking genuinely bewildered by Katerina's concern, before narrowing her eyes, "Why didn't you text _me_? You're the one who got attacked last night."

"I'm not the one who killed someone last night."

Well, actually, she _had _killed someone last night, but she wasn't going to cry about it. She was long past that point in her life.

Caroline's face drained of color, and Katerina reflected that she might have wanted to phrase that a teensy bit differently.

"I did," Caroline said, swallowing harshly before continuing, "But he…he would have killed me if he had the chance."

Katerina thought that Caroline sounded more like she was trying to justify it to herself than explain what had happened, and considered trying to drive the point home, but ultimately decided that it would more likely push Caroline back than pull her forward.

Acting like it wasn't a big deal was probably a better tactic, she decided.

"Yes, he would have. I'm going to make coffee. Would you like some?"

Caroline shook her head. "I had tea already."

"At Klaus's?" Katerina said, smirking.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "It wasn't like that," she said exasperatedly, "I just stayed over because I was upset."

"You stayed with Stefan, then?" Katerina asked, thankful that the coffee maker was on the other side of the room so that Caroline didn't see her wicked grin.

Katerina knew perfectly well that Caroline had stayed with Klaus. Stefan had texted her at three in the morning telling her to expect Caroline home in a fit, but then updated her about an hour and a half later to say never mind and inform her that Caroline was sleeping in Klaus's room that night.

Katerina had replied back to remind him that if they slept together before February, he owed her twenty dollars.

"No…I stayed with Klaus."

Katerina held back a giggle and, in the spirit of winning, turned to Caroline, her hands wrapped around her coffee mug.

"So? How was he?"

Caroline wrinkled her nose. "I didn't sleep with him."

"I find it hard to believe that he slept on the couch."

"No, no, I mean, I slept with him, but I didn't like, _sleep _with him."

Katerina nodded, slightly irrationally annoyed that she wouldn't be getting her money that day. Although, she had before the end of the month for them to cave, so she still might.

And, just to be clear, by "them" she meant "Caroline."

"Right. Okay."

They were silent for a moment before Caroline mumbled that she was going to take a shower and took off up the stairs. Katerina grinned to herself and pulled out her phone.

_She didn't put out. No worries tho, Steffie, she'll def. do it by the end of the month. I prefer cash. ;) xoxo_

The almost immediate response made her laugh.

_Oh, I know, I already went to the ATM last week to get it over with. Barring a zombie apocalypse or sudden death, I'll give it to you on the first. FYI, I hate you._

* * *

**January 13****th****, 2013**

Caroline groaned as her phone's ringtone blared through what should have been a quiet Sunday afternoon, and hit the answer button.

"Hello?"

"Caroline, can you do me a huge favor?" Elena asked, her voice panicked.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I forgot I was supposed to meet the caterer for the wedding today at four, and so I made an appointment for a mani-pedi, and I really don't want to cancel either of them because they'll charge for a missed appointment. Bonnie was supposed to come with me, but you know how she is. She'll probably get caught up and lose track of time in the lab. Anyways, I was wondering if you'd be willing to go to the caterer's for me? It's only about ten minutes out of town. I just need to make sure they're on track."

"Yeah, sure. What was the meeting for?" Caroline asked, immediately descending into planning-mode.

"Thank you so much! You're a lifesaver. Just make sure they know what the menu is and how much food they need to bring. I'll text you the info."

"Yeah, totally. Can you text me the address, too?"

"Yes. Thank you so much, Care!"

"No problem."

Caroline hung up and took a deep breath, rubbing her temples. All she wanted to do before her field mission on Tuesday was relax and pretend that nothing was happening. She would never admit it to anybody, but she was really nervous.

She was determined, however, to get over it.

Checking the clock, she realized that she only had about an hour before Elena's appointment and sighed at having to change out of her pajamas.

She took a quick shower and headed out to the car, deciding to drop by the hospital to see if Bonnie was actually coming.

When she got there, she found Klaus in the waiting room.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"My brother's impossible wife asked me to take Katya for her check-up," He replied, his lip curling, "A better question, I believe, is what are _you _doing here? Are you injured?"

Caroline shook her head. "No. Elena asked me to stop by the caterer for the wedding this afternoon with Bonnie, so I'm seeing if she's ready to go."

"You're going out of town alone with _Bonnie_ to run an errand Elena was supposed to take care of?" Klaus asked, looking confused and a bit angry.

"Yes."

"I'm coming with you."

"Um, why? You don't need to."

"I won't allow you to go out by yourself with someone who can barely defend herself against a golden retriever, let alone an actual threat."

"That dog was rabid and twice my size, okay? It wasn't my fault," Bonnie said from behind them, making Caroline start a little at her interruption, "And you'd be bored."

Klaus frowned, clearly about to disagree, but Caroline jumped in. "Won't _allow_?" She asked incredulously.

He shrugged. She glared.

"You don't _allow _me to do anything. I'm going with Bonnie, and you're staying here to take care of Katya."

Klaus shrugged again, and Caroline was immediately suspicious. He had agreed much too quickly. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, she gave him a quick kiss—Bonnie made a face—and headed out the door.

**XXX**

There was no way he was letting her go out alone with the Bennett girl. He couldn't _make_ her stay—not without risk of losing her—but he most definitely wouldn't allow her to be utterly defenseless. He texted Kol to tell him that he was to take care of Katya, and left the hospital at a brisk walk without waiting for a reply.

If his niece ended up crying in a corner because she hurt her ankle, it was now Kol's problem.

There weren't any restaurants that did catering in Mystic Falls—or at least none that Elena would ever consider using for her wedding—so he knew that he had to head out of town. He strapped himself into the car and pulled out his phone to connect to the central tracking system to find Caroline. Once he found the location of her ring on his map he started driving in that direction.

He soon caught up with them from a distance, and followed Caroline's car to a small Italian restaurant. He parked a block or two away once they'd gone inside and walked over to wait near the building.

As he approached, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and stiffened. There was a man sitting in a car in front of the restaurant, his eyes fixed on the front door. Klaus leaned against the side of the building and pulled out his phone, having mastered the art of looking like he was waiting for someone long ago, and casually glanced through the man's car window.

There wasn't a sign of a weapon, though the man now seemed to be frowning at his phone, on which, if he squinted, he could make out that he was looking at a photo of a girl.

He closed his eyes briefly to let them rest before opening them again to try to focus on the photo more clearly.

It was a photo of one of the Petrova twins, and he quickly looked back at his phone, grimacing. He _knew _that this was a bad idea. He opened the phone app, trying to decide whether he should make the call, or just get Caroline (and perhaps Bonnie) back to the hospital.

He didn't have much time to make his decision, because the door swung open and Bonnie and Caroline were laughing together, heading towards Caroline's car. The man who had been waiting in his casually got out and walked toward them. Klaus dug his hand in his pocket to hold the handle of his knife, moving slightly to stay out of their vision.

"Sorry, I'm looking for someone. Have you seen this girl?" The man asked, holding the phone out to show Caroline and Bonnie.

While Caroline's face remained stoic, Bonnie's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, and when the man saw her reaction he immediately pulled out a vial of something, plunging it into Bonnie's neck. A fraction of a second later, Caroline shoved her palm into his nose, causing him to stumble back, dropping his phone with his hands over his face.

Klaus paused, slightly impressed by her quick reaction, and then briskly walked out, ignoring Caroline's cry of, "_Seriously, Klaus?_" and knocked the man over the head with his fist.

The man collapsed.

"And this is why I didn't want you to go out alone."

"Okay, number one, I'm not alone. Number two, I could _clearly_ handle this. You didn't need to follow me here."

"Yes, I did. You could have been hurt."

She glared at him, her hands fastened on her hips. "Grab the vial and put Bonnie in the car, we're going to take her to the hospital."

He shook his head. "You take her, I'll dump this one in the holding cell and come pick you up."

She shook her head exasperatedly. "Klaus, I don't need you to pick me up. Just do your thing, and I'll do mine, okay?"

He decided to drop it. He would text Stefan to make sure she got home safely. "All right, fine, but I'll be right behind you going back."

She huffed but nodded, opening the back door so that he could safely lay Bonnie on the seat and then getting into the driver's side herself, slamming the door behind her. She shot him a shooing motion before pulling out and driving back towards Mystic Falls.

He sighed and glared down at the body at his feet and patted him down, withdrawing the man's wallet and keys, before hoisting it into his trunk and setting his phone in car dock to call Silas.

"Niklaus?"

"Another one followed Caroline and Bonnie to the caterer's," Klaus said, without bothering to greet his boss, "He managed to inject Bonnie with something, and Caroline has her on the way to the hospital right now. I'll put their attacker in the holding cells and check up on them."

He heard Silas's annoyed huff over the line. "Do you think he knows anything?"

"No idea at all."

"I'll have Mr. Donovan run his name through the system, and then ask him a few questions."

"Once you're done, may I see him?" Klaus asked, his tone of voice clearly conveying that he was asking for formalities sake and that he'd be seeing the prisoner whether Silas wished him to or not.

There was silence for a moment before Silas responded. "Yes, I suppose so. Just lock up after you're done."

Klaus smirked to himself. His boss clearly hadn't abandoned the attitude of "If I didn't see them get injured, I don't know what happened," in regards to any prisoners Klaus felt like visiting, and for that he was thankful. It would be a pity if he didn't get to talk to the man who had tried to hurt his Caroline.

Attempted murder was rather rude, after all.

**XXX**

Bonnie rubbed her head as she woke up to see Sage standing over her. "Standard knockout serum. You should be fine in a few. Here, drink this," Sage ordered, thrusting a cup of water and a pill into Bonnie's hand.

Bonnie did as she was directed, swallowing the pill and then chugging the water.

"You should feel better in a few minutes. You're free to go, but come back if you feel anything odd, you know how it is."

"Thanks Sage," Bonnie said, smiling slightly as she swung out of bed, not even feeling a bit dizzy. Sage left the exam room, and Bonnie put on her flats and grabbed her purse before following.

Kol was standing in the hallway, his hair sticking up at the ends.

"You're okay!" He said, smiling widely and pulling her into a hug.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Bonnie said, both amused and a little concerned. Had she been out for longer than she thought?

"You've been out for about three hours. Caroline left an hour or so ago to get some food, and Sage wouldn't let me into your exam room," he said, seeming to read her mind.

"Sorry for scaring you."

He grabbed her hand, leading her down the hallway towards the labs. "It's all right. I'm just glad you're okay, darling."

"Me too."

She frowned as she realized that he was pulling her towards her tiny office. When they got to her door she frowned, but unlocked it, letting him enter.

"Kol, did you need some—mmf!"

He attacked her lips, pushing her against the door, his hands trailing from her cheeks to her sides, pausing to squeeze her hips, pressing her against him before sneaking under her dress and down to the backs of her thighs, lifting her small body so that she could wrap her legs around his waist, cradled against the hard wood of the door by his lean muscled body, her ballet flats dangling off of her toes before falling to the ground.

She moaned into his mouth, tangling her fingers into hair and grinding herself against him, tightening her arms around his neck as he pulled back from the wall and turned them around, setting her on top of her file cabinet on the side of the room. He bit her bottom lip softly, sucking on it lightly to take away the sting, before pulling back to nip her ear, his lips, teeth, and tongue making a stinging hot trail down her neck.

Her breath was ragged and fast as he sucked on her pulse point, his hands gripping her hips under the fabric of her dress.

"What…Why?" She gasped out, her nails trailing down his back over his collared shirt.

He pulled back, his eyes darkened with lust and desire for her. "I almost lost you today," He said simply, before returning his attentions to her collarbone, then trailing the path of his lips down to the swells of her breasts peeking out from the patterned fabric, his hands moving up from her thighs to settle on the soft skin of her waist.

She moaned, the crown of her head bumping into the wall as she leaned back, causing him to smirk slightly as he returned his attentions to her chest, getting frustrated with the tightness of her bodice. She moved her hands to the hem to pull it off, but he was too impatient and ripped it down the middle, shoving her bra down to free her breasts, his mouth immediately latching onto one of her nipples, sucking gently before moving to the other.

She moaned as his hand teased the soft skin of her inner thigh, his finger dangerously close to the cloth covering her dripping core. "Kol," She said breathlessly, "Kol stop."

His hands and mouth immediately pulled back.

"Are you all right, darling? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

She shook her head frantically, "No, no, you're fine," She said, moving off of her perch on the metal cabinet and pushing him towards her cushioned office chair.

"File cabinet's uncomfortable," She explained breathlessly as she straddled him, causing him to groan when she ground herself against him.

His hands immediately moved down to cup her ass, holding her against the bulge in his jeans as she rubbed herself against him, her fingers nimbly undoing the buttons to his shirt.

He shrugged it off quickly and she ran her hands over his chest before slipping off of him to pull off her panties and bra, smiling slightly at the lust in his gaze and undoing his jeans and tugging them off with his boxers before straddling him again and sinking down onto his hard length. He groaned, his hands immediately finding her hips as she ground against him experimentally, enjoying the way his head lolled back and the fluttering of his eyelashes. She rolled her hips again, enjoying the sensation of him. He matched the rhythm of her hips, looking up at her tenderly.

The fierceness of their coupling somehow trickled into a slow love-making, his soft grip on the smooth skin of her hips pulling her as close to him as possible.

She came soon after, clenching around him, her head buried in the juncture of his neck, smiling into it when his release followed, her name on his lips like a prayer.

Their breathing evened out, and she abruptly became aware of how uncomfortable he must be with her draped over him on her tiny office chair.

She started to disentangle herself, but he pulled her closer, nuzzling her ear.

"I love you Bonnie."

"I love you, too," She said quietly, not missing the significance of it.

It was the first time she admitted it.

He breathed in slowly. "I don't think I can handle that again."

She sat up, shaking her head. "You're on missions all the time, I have to live with it every day."

He nodded slowly. "I suppose. I just…It took me by surprise."

"I know," She said softly.

This time he did let her slip off of him, and she scanned the room, narrowing her eyes when she saw the pile of fabric laying by the file cabinet.

"Kol, did you rip my dress?"

He was silent, but his grin said it all.

She sighed. "What am I supposed to do? I don't keep changes of clothes here."

He smirked. "You could always wear my shirt. It could practically be a dress on you, you know. How short are you again? Oh, excuse me, how tall?"

She glared at him playfully, crossing her arms. "Five foot two," She mumbled, fastening her bra and grabbing his shirt from the floor and wrapping it around her.

She left the sleeves dangling by her sides and buttoned the shirt up to her breasts, before using the empty sleeves to cinch it around her waist, creating an odd-looking strapless dress.

She glanced back at his shirtless form and flashed him a pearly grin. He smirked in reply. "It looks better on you than it ever has on me."

"Maybe I should keep it, then," She said casually, slipping on her flats and heading for the door, "Can you clean up here while I go home and change and grab you a t-shirt?"

"Of course, darling."

"Thanks," She said, another dazzling smile making its way to her face.

She could feel his eyes on her as she left, and wondered to herself for what felt like the thousandth time in the past month why on earth she hadn't come to her senses earlier.

"Bonnie Bennett!" She winced as she heard Caroline's following accusatory gasp from down the hall, "You slept with Kol in your _office_?"

"How do you know I slept with Kol?" Bonnie asked, her eyes shifting to the side.

Caroline snorted. "Besides the fact that when I left earlier he was wearing that shirt and your hair is a total mess?"

Bonnie glared at her.

"How come I'm the only one not having scandalous sex?" Caroline whined.

Bonnie made a face. "Because if you were having scandalous sex, it would be with Klaus."

Caroline shrugged, a small smirk on her face. "I'll let you know how scandalous it is when we finally get around to it."

"Ew."

Caroline laughed.

"Where is Klaus, anyway?"

Caroline shrugged. "I don't know. He came to check up on me after he dropped the guy off at the holding cells, and when I told him that I would wait for you to wake up he asked if I'd mind him coming over later tonight to make sure I got home okay. He's taking this whole safety thing pretty seriously. It's really annoying."

* * *

_**Earlier that day…**_

As soon as Caroline had agreed to let him come over later, he doubled back through the hospital doors. Though the drive to the holding cells was short, he still made it in record time. He jogged down the stairs and punched in the keycode to the cell his prisoner had been checked into.

For the safety of everyone, the prisoners were kept in a room behind bars, but there was an additional door that separated the cell from the hallway.

Klaus entered and took a seat on the bench across from the gate, the man who had tried to murder Caroline tied to a chair on the other side of the bars, shaking like a wounded mouse in a snake tank.

"I don't know anything," He said quickly.

"I know," Klaus said calmly.

"I wasn't high up enough in the organization to," the prisoner continued, "If you let me go, I can spy…I can—I can, I don't know, do _something _useful. Just please, don't kill me."

Klaus drew a knife out of his pocket, twirling it around in his fingers, a malicious smile painted on his handsome face.

"Now, why would I kill you?"

The prisoner didn't answer, his eyes fixed on the knife.

"We're going to have so much fun together, you and I," Klaus said quietly, licking his lips, his thumb caressing the sharp blade like he would a lover.

"But—but you said you knew that I don't know anything about the Hunters."

Klaus nodded.

"Why would you torture me if you know that I don't have anything to tell you?" The prisoner stuttered out, shifting as far back in the chair as he could get as Klaus walked through the barred gate, his steps silent and predatory.

The man continued to plead until Klaus lightly dragged the blade down his cheek, thinly slicing the skin. Klaus smiled as the prisoner's eyes watered at the sharp pain.

"Oh, an easy crier," Klaus said, his voice silky and malicious, "You're ruining the anticipation you know. Usually it takes them at least ten minutes to cry. Then again, that will just make your eventual screams much more satisfying."

Klaus dragged the knife down the other cheek, and laughed cruelly at the prisoner's flinch. "Did you know that those who cry easily are also quicker to scream? It's not scientifically proven, of course, but I've found it to be so," He said casually, moving the knife down to the prisoner's shoulder and dragging it lightly down his forearm, "You might not believe me, but I have a large sample size. I have had many opportunities to experiment, you see."

He took pleasure in seeing the neat dribbling trails of blood staining the man's cheeks and upper arms, and reflected that he would have to go slowly with this one. A quick death was more than a man who tried to murder his Caroline deserved.

"Why?" The man gasped out, as Klaus made small incisions on the man's chest, "Why are you doing this?"

"You deserve it," Klaus said quietly, not bothering to divulge the reason for his judgment.

"You're twisted," The man spat, before yelling as Klaus made a deeper cut into his side, "_You_ deserve to be tortured. I'm sure you've killed hundreds of people."

Klaus felt anger rippling through his veins, the heat of it filling him with a euphoric rush of intent to maim and stab and burn and inflict the very _worst_ kind of pain on this man. This man who had…had the fucking _nerve _to even attempt to lay a hand on _her_.

"Perhaps I do. Luckily for me, I'm not stupid enough to bait a near-sociopathic killer. You, however, cannot say the same," Klaus muttered, more to himself than the man trembling in the chair.

He soon got bored with the knife after the man's arms had been shaved with thin, shallow strips of flaking skin, and he resolved to spice it up a little bit. He fished in his jacket pocket for a lighter—always useful when attempting to get information out of people who smoked—and flicked it to ignite the flame. He turned to see the man staring at the lighter with wide, horrified eyes, and Klaus smirked.

"Let's play a game. Do you want to play a game?" He asked, smiling sadistically and continuing without waiting for the prisoner's answer, "This one is fun. It's called 'How long can I hold the lighter next to your skin before you scream.' Here are the rules. I'll hold the lighter next to your arm, like so," Klaus held the flame close to the man's skin, his insane smile growing wider when his victim immediately let out a screech of pain, "Well, it seems you're catching on quickly to how you play. The way you win is by staying quiet for thirty seconds straight. Of course, normally people only win once they pass out from the pain, but I'm counting on you to break the trend. Do you understand?"

He thrust the flame closer to one of the cuts he'd made with the knife, causing the man to scream more loudly. Klaus pursed his lips in annoyance. "You aren't very good at this, are you? No matter, we'll practice until you get the hang of it."

As he stood there, the lighter balanced in his hand just so that the flame would lightly lick the man's skin without catching completely, he reflected that if Caroline ever discovered him here, she would most likely disapprove of his actions. She seemed to have some bizarre aversion to punishing those that had wronged her, and he didn't understand it. He would just have to make sure that she never found out, he decided. She would never understand the necessity of this.

It would remain his little secret.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews/constructive criticism are the only way I get better, so please bring 'em on ;)  
So, Caroline is a badass (as usual), Klaus is a fucking terrifying monster (...as usual?) and Kennett had a moment. :P  
As always, the outfits for this chapter can be found on my Polyvore (the link to which is in my profile), and you can follow me on tumblr if you want at thetourguidebarbie.  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	13. Possessions

**A/N: Hello everyone!  
EDIT: I am reposting this because something weird happened with the ffnet servers where the chapter kept getting put on and pulled off. Hopefully this will re-send the notification or whatever, and people will be able to see it this time. ****I also posted the chapter on tumblr from a friend's computer when I realized what was going on. This probably is going to sound super-selfish, but if you did read it there, I'd really appreciate it if you would review it here just so I know what you thought. **

**I've been getting a few questions about the storyline relating to Damon and Caroline's brief relationship, so I thought that I'd answer the question in an A/N, in case anyone is curious (though I did respond to the people in PMs if they asked directly). The Damon and Caroline situation will definitely be further explained, as it's a loose end that I do need to tie up, but I think that people are reading a lot more into it than what it is in this story. **

**If you've read my story The Safehouse, then you know that in canon I firmly believe that Damon raped, physically assaulted, and emotionally abused Caroline. I am NOT a Damon fan, and in my stories that stick to canon, he will be written that way. ****That said, this story is AU/AH, and I'm taking advantage of that separation because Damon physically/sexually abusing Caroline would not serve a purpose within the story's plot, and another one of my firm beliefs is that sexual assault (or assault of any kind) should never be used as a plot device, nor should it be a background detail with no purpose. ****I will definitely touch on emotional abuse (which is also a serious subject) within their relationship. **

**Thank you so much to Miss . Full . of . Light for answering all my silly questions about the Italian bit (go read everything she's written, it's fabulous. Not kidding), and to wondygal and justanotherfiveminutes for your amazing beta work :D  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**January 13****th****, 2013**

He left the cells with a spring in his step. It was late evening—about eight thirty—and he was on his way to Caroline's house to check up on her.

While he was punishing the man who had tried to hurt her, it had occurred to him that perhaps she shouldn't go on the field mission. Though her determination and fire were some of the qualities he enjoyed most in her, he felt that they could hinder her ability to think clearly. She could endanger herself, which was unacceptable.

She wouldn't be happy, of course, but surely she'd see the reason behind his decision and comply with it. His Caroline was stubborn, but generally a reasonable person.

Before he arrived to her house he took a glance at himself in a car window on the side of the road to double-check that he'd washed all the blood away.

He knocked on the door and was greeted by Katerina. "She's fine," she said, "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were worried. But, I mean, you saw her completely unharmed a few hours ago, so you're probably just being a controlling di—"

"I wish to talk to her," He interrupted, shooting Katerina a warning look.

Katerina rolled her eyes but stood aside to allow Klaus entrance before flopping back down on the couch and unpausing whatever awful movie she was watching on the television.

Caroline had apparently heard him enter because she poked her head out of the kitchen to greet him with a bright smile. He walked to her and gave her a quick once-over, making her roll her eyes.

"I'm fine."

"I know."

He kissed her, pulling her towards him and feeling her melt against his body, her fingers latching onto the fabric of his shirt. A cough from Katerina brought them back and Klaus shot her a glare.

"I need to talk to you," he said quietly, causing her to frown and pull back.

"Okay."

"I know that we spoke about this already, but are you absolutely sure that you wish to be in the field for this mission?"

"Klaus, you know that the only reason that we were even given this mission was because I'd be on the field, so of course I'm going to," She said hotly, crossing her arms.

He pressed his lips together, trying to figure out how to phrase his next question. "Even after what occurred this afternoon?" He asked, making sure that his voice held a nervous tinge.

Her face softened immediately. "Don't be concerned. I'll be safe, okay? I promise."

"Do you?"

She nodded, before resting her hands on his shoulders and kissing him slowly, opening her mouth to him and allowing his tongue to invade her, making her shiver. She pulled back and rested her forehead against his.

"I pro—is that blood on your collar?" She asked, apparently zeroing in on the patch of red staining his shirt.

He managed to keep his face expressionless. "I can't see it, love, but I suspect that it's paint."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but seemed to accept the excuse, resting her head on his shoulder. He was still uncomfortable with physical touch for extended periods of time, but somehow with Caroline it felt natural. He pulled her closer to him, allowing her scent to invade his senses.

Katerina coughed again, and the moment was broken. "I'm going to bed."

"Good night, Kat," Caroline said, her voice muffled against his skin.

"I'm a heavy sleeper, and I won't hear anything that goes in the house, even if it's only two doors down from me."

"Good _night, _Kat," Caroline said again, lifting her head so that the words were clearer.

Once Katerina had left the room, he smiled down at Caroline, trying not to look too hopeful. "I think she might be onto something."

Caroline snorted and pulled away, still allowing him to hold her loosely around the waist. "Not tonight, I have to get some sleep."

He suddenly didn't like the idea of her sleeping alone in a house with Katerina at all. Katerina was certainly able to protect them, but would she? The girl was notorious for her self-preservation. He had a feeling that she'd throw her own sister into Qetsiyah's arms as long as she got away unscathed.

"You can sleep at the boarding house. I'd happily escort you," He said, "You could even stay in the guest room, if you'd like."

She gave him an unimpressed stare, and he got the message. "All right, well, Finn will pick you up at half nine tomorrow morning. He wanted me to inform you that our flight is at noon, and to make sure to pack enough supplies to last three days, although your outfit for the date is provided."

"Okay," She said agreeably, leading him to the front of the house and giving him one last peck on the lips before opening the door for him, "Good night."

"Good night, love."

She closed the door behind him and he walked to his car, feeling slightly confused at the rejection. She was his, clearly, so why wouldn't she allow him to take care of her?

He decided to add it to the growing mental list of things he did not understand about Caroline Forbes and continue on as usual.

**XXX**

In Stefan Salvatore's personal opinion, he was a terrible friend.  
Maybe not in general, but he should have seen it coming earlier. He'd heard what happened to Caroline and Bonnie from Klaus, though he'd only found out that Bonnie had been involved when he was driving Caroline home from the hospital.

Once he'd made sure that Caroline was home, and Caroline had ranted to him for the entire car ride about Klaus's inability to trust her with her own personal safety, he decided to stop by the cells to look at the interrogation records.

He hadn't even gotten four feet through the door before he heard the screams, and he felt like was going to be sick.

Klaus was a murderer.

Klaus was an unfeeling psychopathic murderer.

Klaus was an unfeeling psychopathic murderer that he'd convinced his good-hearted, positive best friend to enter a relationship with.

He turned right back around and drove to the house of the only person who he thought might understand.

Rebekah opened the door to him in her tiny cotton Hello Kitty pajama set, a silk robe, and fluffy polar bear slippers with an irritable expression that softened as soon as she saw him. She silently stood aside to let him in and pushed him towards the fridge. Unlike Caroline, who stress-cleaned, Stefan stress-baked. As a result, they had mutually decided not to visit each other when they were both stressed, because the result was inevitably Caroline trying to clean the kitchen while Stefan baked in it.

They'd learned after a joint trip to the emergency room during one summer—which happened to be the summer of Caroline and Damon's relationship, as well as the one of Stefan's _lack _of relationship—that cleaning spray and brownies weren't a good combination.

He immediately preheated the oven and set the butter on the counter to soften, and then started sifting flower and baking powder into a bowl. Rebekah waited patiently for him to start talking, as she always did, and for that he was thankful.

"Caroline and Bonnie were attacked today."

"I heard. I thought Kol was going to have a heart attack when he came over and she wasn't here."

"Well, Klaus was there, and he knocked the guy out."

"That's good."

"As far as I've heard, Caroline had it handled, though."

Rebekah shrugged. "Typical Nik, I suppose. His general attitude in life is that if you want somebody to do something, you should just do it yourself before they get the chance and then be angry because they didn't do it themselves."

Stefan didn't even smile as he focused on cracking eggs into the mixer. "Well, he was in the cells, and got interrogated a few hours ago by Silas."

"Ah," Rebekah said slowly, "So how dead is he?"

"This isn't funny, Beks," Stefan burst out angrily, going from depressed to furious in a matter of seconds, "I have, in effect, encouraged my best friend to date your psychopathic brother. Forget about the guy who attacked her, _she's _going to end up dead."

"Sorry, sorry. I know it's not funny."

He glared at her. "Look, I'm not going to say I told you so…" She started.

"Except you are."

She sighed and stood up, taking the measuring cup out of his hand, setting it on the counter, and turning off the mixer before taking his hands in hers, giving him a stern look when he made to rip them away.

"What Caroline does isn't your responsibility. All you can do right now is support her in her choices. I know you're concerned, and you're right to be, because my brother really is a monster. But Caroline wouldn't want you to put your life on hold to live it as her guardian angel, especially when she really doesn't have anything to worry about. He would never hurt her."

"Maybe he wouldn't hurt her physically, but emotionally…"

"Look, Caroline is a strong person. Even if she does discover who he is, she has a choice, and she'll make the one that's right for her. Stop worrying so much, _Amore_."

Her use of her intimate pet name for him combined with her pleading tone made him relax slightly, and he pulled her towards him, crushing her against his chest. "I'm just scared," He confessed quietly, "Whether it's my fault or not doesn't change the fact that it'll happen. If you get in a car crash and someone dies, no matter who's fault it is they're still dead."

She nodded. "I know, _Amore_."

They stayed like that for a while, Rebekah cradled in his arms, her silk robe light against his fingers. He let go abruptly and turned back to the mixer, turning it back on again before adding the chocolate chips, allowing the batter to cream.

"If you're going to stress-bake, can we at least have the orange zest cookies?"

He smiled and obligingly picked out an orange from the fruit basket and started grating the peel.

"I love you," He said, knowing that his voice was most likely almost indecipherable under the clanging of the electric mixer.

He thought she hadn't heard, but when he looked out of the corner of his eye, he saw her beaming at him, twirling a clean spoon in her fingers. He turned off the mixer and she hopped off the kitchen table, immediately scooping some dough onto her spoon, handing him another one.

"Don't bother baking it," She ordered, even as he took the bowl off the cradle.

They sat in the living room until early morning, feeding each other cookie dough and watching late night re-runs of sitcoms.

By the time they fell into bed together, the sunrise shining through the window illuminating Rebekah's naked body like a beacon against her mint green sheets, he'd almost forgotten about the problems of his best friend.

Almost.

* * *

**January 14****th****, 2013**

"I look like I just walked off the set of The Stepford Wives," Caroline grumbled, holding her hair up so that Stefan could zip up her dress.

"It'll only be for a few hours, Care."

"Seriously, Stefan?"

"And Klaus will be right there the entire time."

Caroline shot Stefan a glare before fluffing her hair in the mirror and uncapping her liquid eyeliner. "I'm not anxious about it. I just don't particularly feel like having a four-hour first date. Why can't we just knock him out or something?"

"Yes, why can't we?" Klaus asked from the corner, where'd he been standing petulantly with his arms crossed for the last half hour while Caroline complained to Stefan.

"Because he needs to think that it was a complete coincidence," Finn said from the hotel armchair without looking up from his book.

"Who would think that a first date with some girl you met on the internet and someone breaking into your house and stealing a priceless necklace and literally nothing else on the same day was a _coincidence_? That kind of screams fishy, don't ya think?" Caroline said irritably, not waiting for an answer before plunging on, "And anyway, even if he _does_ think it's a coincidence, stealing a necklace from his house won't take hours, right?"

Klaus shrugged. "It depends how efficient his security system is, love."

"Well, I hope it's not efficient at all. Ugh. And where are we even _going_?"

"The movies," Finn said shortly.

"Who would wear _this_," She gestured at herself, "To the movies?"

"A Stepford wife, clearly," Stefan mumbled, before wincing as Caroline elbowed him harshly in the side and glared at him.

"Ugh. Omigod, I can't even with you people right now," She said, throwing her hands up in the air and grabbing her purse, noticing Klaus mouthing _I can't even? _to Stefan out of the corner of her eye, who shrugged.

"Well, let's go. And if I have to disinfect my mouth later, I blame you," She said, glaring at Finn.

**XXX**

"Feet off the desk, Katerina."

"Sorry, Papa," She said, not sounding particularly sorry at all, but obligingly moving her feet off of his wooden desk, "Why am I here?"

"We're waiting for your sister."

Katerina groaned and checked the clock. There were two kinds of late: fashionably late, and _late_. Her sister was very rapidly appraoching the second category.

A few minutes later, Elena finally walked into the room with the usual bright smile on her face. Katerina hoped for the millionth time that she never looked like that when she smiled.

Way too happy.

She primly sat down in the seat next to Katerina, her legs crossed at the ankle with her hands in her lap. "What's going on?"

"I think that the next time Qetsiyah attacks, it won't be a warning."

"What do you think she'll do?"

"Kill us, _obviously_," Katerina said, slightly exasperated by her sister's naive question, "Like she did with Mama, Mother, and Tatia."

She realized that she might have been a bit insensitive towards her grandfather's feelings when she turned back to see him looking at her sadly. "Sorry, Papa."

"I just want you to be careful," He continued as though she hadn't spoken, "We're doing a complete check of the security, and we'll have everything updated completely within the next twenty-four hours. Until then, I'd like you to stay inside."

"Of course, Papa," Elena immediately said.

Silas turned and raised an eyebrow at Katerina, who rolled her eyes but nodded her agreement. "Fine. I have to go."

"Be safe," He said softly, and she gave him a rare genuine smile.

"Of course. I love you, Papa."

"And I you, Katerina."

Katerina left, vaguely hearing Elena ask if she could ask something about her upcoming wedding.

She walked down the stairs, her stilettos making harsh clicking sounds against the hardwood floors, and knocked on an office door.

"Come in."

She stuck her head in the door to see Elijah at the desk.

"Katerina."

"Are you busy?" She asked as she shut the door behind her and sauntered over to him.

"Mildly until four o'clock or so," He said, quickly stacking his papers since he knew exactly what was coming next.

She smirked at his actions and quickly swept a large stack onto the floor before he could get to them before perching on the desktop, her legs crossed at the knee.  
She widened her eyes, trying to look as innocent as possible. "Oops."

He closed his eyes as if in pain for a moment before sighing. "Is there a reason why you're here while I'm working, Katerina?"

"To have excellent desk sex," Katerina said promptly.

"Katerina..."

"What? Am I not allowed to come seduce my wonderful suit-wearing boyfriend while he's sitting at a _very _sturdy desk in a giant mansion?"

"Katerina. As much as I would enjoy being seduced by you in the present moment, and really, I would _very _much enjoy it, I have work to do."

She pouted. "I'm sure I could convince your boss to give you the day off."

He gave her an unimpressed look before gesturing to the papers all over the floor. "Pick those up, please, Katerina."

She huffed and gracefully stood up from the desk. "You are absolutely no fun, you know that?"

"That's not what you said last night." He said lightly.

"I changed my mind."

"The papers, please, Katerina."

She gave him a look of complete disinterest before walking to the door, ignoring his request. "If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

He didn't answer, but she heard the rustle of papers and realized that he was ignoring her.

"Real mature, Elijah," She threw over her shoulder before slamming his office door behind her and stomping outside, mumbling obscenities at him in six different languages.

Normally, she would have noticed the movement before it was even within throwing distance, but she was so distracted that she didn't realize anything was amiss until she felt the prick in her neck.

**XXX**

"I saw this gorgeous wedding dress in the window out of town, and since I can't go off-base, I was wondering if you could send someone to pick it up for me?" Elena asked, biting her lip.

Silas sighed, and she knew she had him.

He had trouble with her puppy eyes.

"Fine," He mumbled, "Who's the closest to your size?"

"Kat," She joked, before cringing at her grandfather's glare, "Sorry, Papa. Um, probably Vicki Donovan."

He nodded. "All right, I'll let her know."

"Thank you, Papa."

He nodded. "It's your special day," He said dryly, "How could I not let one of our members risk their lives to get you a dress."

Elena suddenly felt incredibly selfish. "Never mind, it's fine, I can get another dress. Or maybe we could postpone—"

"I was joking," He said quickly, apparently realizing that he'd made her guilty, "It's very low-risk. She'll be fine."

Elena nodded, still feeling uncomfortable. "I have to go. It's nearly lunch time. I love you, Papa," She said, walking around the desk to give him a hug.

"And I you, Elena. Now go eat, you're going to waste away."

She pouted. "I'm trying to stay light for the wedding."

He rolled his eyes, just as everyone had when she said it.

She heard her sister and Elijah having a fight as she passed by the office, rolling her eyes at their relationship.

They were always fighting, but Elena had decided long ago that it was more foreplay than anything, and their love was a passionate and beautiful thing.

Plus, not everyone could have a relationship as stable as the one she had with Damon.

She fished around her purse for her car keys when a man drove up next to her in a small Sedan.

"Hey, sorry, do you know how to get to the Mystic Grill? I have a date in less than ten minutes, but I can't find it."

"Of course, just drive that way until you see a fountain and then take a right. It should be on your lef—"

She felt a prick in her neck, and collapsed, her last thought that maybe Damon and Katerina were correct when they scolded her about being too trusting.

**XXX**

He had spent the last three hours resisting the urge to walk across the cafe and strangle the man that Caroline was sitting with. Their client only wanted the necklace, and they usually didn't bother killing people if they could avoid it, especially once Caroline joined the team. However, this man sitting accross from his Caroline was trying his patience.

Caroline laughed at another one of the man's jokes, and Klaus scowled. He couldn't tell if she honestly thought the stupid man was funny or if she was just that good of an actress.

He decided that the latter made much more sense. He'd been listening in and the man hadn't said anything remotely humorous the entire day.

They'd gone to see a movie and were now having an early dinner at a small sandwich shop near the theatre. He'd sat behind them a few rows and kept a close eye on him, making sure he didn't try anything physical.

Every time Caroline had some sort of date with a target as a distraction, he always felt on edge. Caroline's reference to wishing to "disinfect her mouth" came from a mission in mid-October before Philadelphia in which Caroline was a distraction for a particularly aggressive man.

* * *

_October 16th, 2012_

_Stefan was almost done, he reminded himself as he watched Caroline bat her eyelashes for the fifth time in as many minutes. She was getting desperate now, he could tell. They'd been having drinks at the bar for two hours and three minutes, not that anyone was counting, and her "date" was getting restless. He'd bought Caroline a drink, which she had barely touched, and he clearly had been hoping to get her drunk and take her home. _

_The man seemed to have decided that enough was enough and slid off the bar stool._

"_I have to go, but I'll drive you home, if you'd like. Then you won't have to take the subway," He said._

_Klaus saw Caroline's eyes widen in panic for a moment, before she gave him a small smile, her mind clearly working quickly to figure out how to keep him distracted._

"_That would be nice," She said quietly, her voice taking a sweeter tone._

_She followed him outside and to his car, Klaus following behind at a slow pace, pretending to text._

_They got to the man's car and Klaus looked up from his phone to see Caroline's lips on the man, pressing him against the car. He was responding enthusiastically, his hands resting on her hips, and Caroline had her hands flat on his chest, her legs spread slightly to trap him while she kissed him._

_Klaus ran through the brief again in his head. The man participated in the running of a prostitution ring, and their contract was to make arrests while the man was away. He tried to remember if there was a "kill if necessary" clause, but decided that it didn't matter. He didn't particularly care if they received the money as long as the man's hands were removed from slowly floating up Caroline's sides to her breasts right now. _

_He crept slowly towards them, and then within a second he pushed Caroline out of the way and stabbed the man in the throat._

"_Oh my god, what the fuck, Klaus?"_

"_He was about to molest you."_

_Caroline gave him a disbelieving look. "You just killed someone because I kissed them. For my_ job_."_

"_He was about to pull you into something that is most definitely not in your job description, if you couldn't tell," He said, texting Damon a succinct message, and ignoring Caroline's fit, though he did firmly tell her to yell about killing someone more quietly while they walked towards the meet-up point, Klaus having taken the man's wallet and other valuables to make it look like a mugging. _

"—_And it's none of your business who I kiss anyway. It's my body, and if I feel like kissing a target to distract them, I have that right, just like I do to kiss anybody I actually _do _want to kiss," she was saying, "You don't have any control over me, Klaus."_

* * *

Klaus was pulled out of his thoughts by his phone vibrating in his jacket pocket, and he pulled it out, throwing some money on the table and standing up to take the call.

"_You need to get Caroline to the meet-up point. The twins were kidnapped." _Stefan's voice said over the speaker.

"We'll be right there."

He moved far enough away from the cafe that he wouldn't be overheard if he spoke quietly, but was still able to hear Caroline's conversation, and then called her.

"I'm so sorry, I have to take this," She said, standing up and pulling out her phone to answer it.

"_Hello?_"

"Caroline, it's time to go."

"_Oh. Okay, I'll be right there_," She said, clearly trying to sound concerned.

She hung up and turned to her date. "I'm so sorry. My friends having a...a family emergency," She invented, almost making Klaus groan at the pitiful excuse, "I have to go. Thank you so much for dinner and the movie, I had a good time."

"Of course, it's no problem at all."

She shot him a quick smile before gathering her things and leaving, pausing for a fraction of a second after making her way out of the area to make sure that Klaus was following her. As soon as she turned the corner of the block, he caught up with her, falling into step next to her.

Finn and Stefan pulled up at the curb next to them, and Klaus opened the door to the backseat for her before sliding in after her.

"Katerina and Elena have been kidnapped," Finn informed them, "We're all to return to the base immediately until we have further information."

Caroline nodded numbly, and Klaus could tell that her mind going a mile a minute. He decided to touch her arm, hoping that she would take it as the comfort he intended, and she immediately scooted closer to him, snuggling up against his shoulder. He stiffened, as he always did when she pursued phsyical contact with him, but relaxed a second later and wrapped an arm around her, letting her lean into him.

**XXX**

Katerina blearily opened one of her eyes and then the other. Then blinked. Hard.

"Where the fuck am I?"

"I can't tell you that, Miss Petrova."

"Of course you can't," She mumbled, rolling her eyes.

She took better stock of her surroundings.

She was in some kind of human-sized cage. There wasn't any furniture or anything to hold on to. She was just on a floor. Surrounded by bars.

"Any chance I could use the ladies?"

"Sure," The guard said without moving an inch, "Go right ahead."

Her lip curled.

"The ladies _room. _Like, you know, with an actual toilet. Preferably with toilet paper that's two-ply or over."

"Sorry, you have to stay in there."

"Joy."

The cage was in the middle of a giant room—a warehouse, maybe?—with a single door that the guard was standing in front of, as well as a video camera.

"How long have I been out?"

"Can't tell you."

She frowned, flexing her hand and realizing that she didn't have her ring. Well, honestly she hadn't really expected to have it. Qetsiyah seemed to be one of the comptent ones. "What are you going to do with me?"

"Can't tell you."

"Is my sister here?"

"I can't tell you that either," The guard said, clearly growing annoyed.

"So that means yes."

He huffed, but didn't answer.

"What's your name?"

He seemed to weigh the possible consequences of answering before saying, "Alexander."

"Oh. Well, _hello, _Alexander," She said, winking.

He remained silent, and she sighed. "God, you are _no_ fun."

"Fun isn't exactly in my job description."

She pouted. "I'm bored."

"Are you?" He asked dryly.

She nodded. "Is there anything to do?"

"You can sit there silently."

"Mmm...No. How about I Spy?"

He stayed silent.

"I Spy with my little eye...Something...pink."

He still didn't talk.

"Fine then. Be that way."

She laid down on the floor of the cage reflecting that at least she wasn't tied up. "How long will I be here?"

He didn't answer.

"I'm hungry," She complained, "Are you going to starve me or something?"

She thought she heard him mutter something about getting the bitchy twin and smirked. Oh yes, he did.

**XXX**

It was approaching midnight when they all filed into the underground gym. Caroline looked around and realized that she hadn't known how large the agency was before. It seemed like it must be almost half the town.

Everyone became silent all at once as soon as Silas stood up.

"We've recieved a ransom video," He said, so quietly that Caroline could barely hear it even though no one was making a sound.

He gestured to the large television screen mounted to the wall, which immediately flared to life.

It depicted a stunningly beautiful woman that looked to be in her early fifties, who was smirking at the camera.

"Hello, my love."

_My love? Seriously?_

"I'm sure you're wondering where your granddaughters are. I assure you that they're perfectly safe. And, if you're lucky, one of them will stay that way."

_One of them?_

"As I'm sure you've already realized, I did, in fact, orchestrate the car crash that killed the majority of family," The woman said casually, picking at her nails, "It was rather inconvenient at the time that Katerina and Elena survived, but of course it allowed me to draw out your suffering, which actually made it much more enjoyable. Zoom out."

The holder of the camera obligingly pulled back, and the picture now showed Qetsiyah standing in between two video screens, which both depicted one of the twins in a cage.

Elena was sitting in the middle of hers, with her arms drawn around her knees, rubbing the finger where her engagement ring used to rest. She looked scared, but seemed to be managing herself well.

Katerina on the other hand, was lying down on her back, staring right at the camera mounted above her, looking incredibly bored. If Caroline hadn't been so terrified, she might almost have found it funny.

"You have twenty four hours to free a twin. Yes, I did say _a _twin," Qetsiyah continued, a cheerfully manic smile twisting her pretty face, "These cages are linked, you see. They both have devices attached to them such that when the door is opened, they explode. However, the funny thing is—well, actually, I suppose it's only funny for me—that when you open one, it's the other cage that explodes. So, as I said, I guess that means you can only save one. Pity. Well, a pity for you."

Two adresses flashed on the bottom of the screen, and Qetsiyah continued speaking. "These are the adresses where the cages are. You have until...Oh...Let's say sunrise, to free the twin of your choice. I do enjoy the poetry of that. Until later, my love," She said, blowing a kiss to the camera.

The video shut off, and Damon immediately spoke. "We have to save Elena."

She heard Stefan groan next to her.

"We have to find a way to save both," Silas said firmly.

"But if we can't save both, we have to save Elena," Damon insisted.

"We'll save both," Silas repeated.

Damon made a sound of frustration. "Yes, I understand, but if we _can't _save both, then we'll save Elena."

Caroline and Stefan exchanged a look at the rage that was burning in Silas's eyes as he looked at the man his granddaughter loved.

Before he could speak, however, Elijah's fist collided with Damon's jaw.

"You selfish filthy pile of _shit,_" Elijah hissed in between his teeth, making Caroline's jaw drop.

She'd _never _heard Elijah speak in such a way.

"We will save _both_," Elijah continued, "But if we somehow do not come up with a reasonable plan of action, do not _think _for a _second _that I will not fight for Katerina."

They continued fighting, and she felt arms circle her and became aware of the wetness on her face. She realized that she'd been crying, and that Klaus had pulled her into his arms.

"Well find a way, love," He was saying softly in her ear, "We'll retrieve your friends."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading!  
I am so thankful for all of your comments and questions. This story is now officially about halfway through, and I am still completely in awe of the reception it's gotten so far. I want to thank you guys so much for reading, and especially thank the people that are reviewing every single chapter, because those always make me so happy and keep me inspired to keep writing!  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas/predictions/feedback for it. Please, PLEASE review, as it's the only way I get to be a better writer.  
I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve.  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	14. The Rescuers

**A/N: Hello, all! So, last week the chapter was a bit weird and kept going up and down, and it was difficult for people to access it. Because it has now been two consecutive weeks of technology being mean to everyone, I'm posting this early... Again...  
So, if you didn't get to read chapter 13, I advise that you go back and read it now, or a lot of this won't make any sense at all :P  
One of the things I love writing about this fic are the side character sub-plots, and the Petrova family definitely has one that we're visiting. Katerina and Elena are sisters and they do love each other even though they're very different people, so that dynamic is, I think, important to explore. There's an important development to that sub-plot in this.  
Qetsiyah is not the big bad in this. I don't think I've said that before, so I just wanted to make it clear. She definitely serves a purpose though.  
There have been requests for more Klaroline feels and missions, hopefully this chapter will satisfy both of those :P  
Thank you wondygal &amp; justanotherfiveminutes for betaing :D  
Enjoy!  
-Angie **

* * *

**January 15****th****, 2013**

They had less than six hours. If only he'd given in and taken her over his desk instead of telling her that he had work to do. That contract could have waited an hour or two…Maybe she wouldn't be gone…Maybe she'd be…Well, maybe she'd be not in a fucking cage three hours away held captive by her grandfather's crazy ex-fiancée.

And then Damon fucking Salvatore goes and announces to everybody his intention to save _his_ fiancée.

Not that Elijah was against rescuing Elena, but to imply that Elena was more important than Katerina…And in front of their heartbroken grandfather. He had the subtlety of a flash bomb and the sensitivity of…Well, he supposed that he couldn't use Niklaus as a measuring stick for emotional challenges anymore.

Either which way, here he was trying to think of a solution to their problem that didn't involve any luck. He wanted a guarantee that both women would make it out alive.

He sat in the office chair in between Matt and Marcel, determined to figure it out.

"Pause the footage," He ordered.

Qetsiyah was frozen in time, an insane smile on her face, but Elijah was more interested in the video screens behind her. "Zoom in," he said, pointing at a spot in Katerina's side of the footage, "Is that the explosion device?"

"I think so," Matt said, leaning forward slightly, lightening the picture using image manipulation software, "That's probably the company logo," he said, pointing at a white blip on the side of the device.

"Zoom in on Elena's," Elijah ordered, "Put the two pictures side-by-side."

Matt did so, and they were able to make out the logo completely.

Marcel immediately began running an image search and soon found the company. "It looks like this is one of the newer models of the X2300," He was saying, pointing at the picture, "If we can get one I might be able to mess with them. Two would be even better."

"Where are they stored?" Elijah asked quickly, pulling out his phone.

Marcel frowned. "Off the coast of Hawaii."

"Hawaii?" Matt asked incredulously.

Marcel nodded. "It makes sense if you think about it. There are lots of small islands and it's far away from anywhere besides itself."

"We'd never get there in time."

"He's correct. The flight is approximately six hours from here on our fastest private jet."

"Oh! Here, let me," Matt ordered, pushing Marcel aside slightly, his fingers flying over the keyboard, pulling up a page with a list of addresses, "These are the recent orders and their shipping addresses. If we can intercept one in transit…"

"Good idea," Marcel interrupted, immediately finding all of the orders for the X2300, most of which were to military bases, "There's one going towards the North Carolina navy base, actually. We should be able to get there in time."

"I'll call Silas," Elijah said quickly, pulling out his phone.

If they could hack the explosives in time…He took a deep breath and let it out again.

_If you come out of this alive, Katerina, I will never deny you excellent desk sex again. I give you my word._

**XXX**

Caroline sat in between Kol and Stefan in front of Silas's desk, with Klaus standing behind them, leaning against the wall, and Jeremy off to the side looking out the window. "Immediately after Marcellus and Matthew figure out how to disarm the explosives, I need you to be ready to leave. They should be done in less than half an hour. You'll fly in the jet with Matthew and Marcellus. They'll brief you on the situation with the explosives. You will kill anyone in those buildings you come across, including Qetsiyah. Do you understand?"

The three of them nodded.

Caroline still wasn't comfortable killing people, really. But Katerina and Elena were worth it.

"Kol, Niklaus and, Marcellus will retrieve Katerina, and Caroline, Stefan, and Matthew will retrieve Elena. Gilbert will be your handler. Are we all clear?"

There were murmurs of assent, and Silas nodded towards the door.

Caroline lingered for a few seconds while everyone was filing out before speaking. "Can I ask you a question?"

He nodded, motioning for her to shut the door. She did so, and sank back into the chair in front of his desk. She bit her lip, trying to figure out how to phrase it.

"Do you think there could be…could be someone feeding information to Qetsiyah? In the organization, I mean. I feel like Kat and Elena were found way too easily, and—"

"You have good instincts," Silas said quietly.

Caroline's eyes widened. "You mean—"

"Yes. I'm fairly certain there is someone in the organization feeding her information. I have my eye on a few in particular."

He was silent for a moment, and Caroline could tell that he was considering his next words.

"I know that you are in an intimate relationship with Niklaus," He said abruptly.

"You think…You think that it's _Klaus_?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No, no. Not at all. I just wanted to ask…How much do you know about his family life? As a child?"

Caroline frowned. "I know that his mother took him and his siblings here to get away from his father when they were young, and that his mother disappeared and Finn kind of got forced into caring for them all. But that's it, I think. Why?"

"I assure you that it's relevant. It's a long story, but there are some things that you should know. Once Elena and Katerina are back at the base, we'll talk."

Her eyes shot up to look at him, surprised at his optimism, and he smiled softly. "You care for Katerina and Elena, do you not, Miss Forbes?"

"Of course," She said, almost angrily.

"And you would be inconsolable should they die?"

She felt slightly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, but nodded.

"Then there will be nothing that Niklaus would not do to bring them back to you," Silas said simply.

**XXX**

"All you have to do is get us close enough to reprogram the devices," Marcel said, clutching a small black box in his hand while Jeremy fiddled around with the collar, trying to find the best way to attach the microphone and earpiece, "Hey, hands off, Gilbert."

Jeremy snorted as he finished adjusting Marcel's and moved on to Matt. "No offense, but I wouldn't touch your dick if you paid me, regardless of whether you liked women or not," Jeremy shot over his shoulder irritably, making Caroline giggle.

She'd adjusted her own microphone and earpiece, and helped Stefan and Klaus with theirs.

"_Anyway_," Matt said, trying to draw the conversation back to the mission, "Just cover us until we get to the cages. The devices are linked to each other. All we have to do is re-link them to these," He said, holding up his own explosive.

"We took pictures of the ID numbers on our phones. If the linked devices are separated more than a mile once they're linked, they both blow at once. We just need to drop these less than a mile away from the warehouses, and then give us about ten minutes at the cages," Marcel continued.

Klaus had been silent almost the entire flight, and when they began their descent to the ground Caroline squeezed his hand. "Is everything okay?"

"Don't die to save your friends," He said simply.

"I'll try," She joked, but then stopped smiling when she saw how serious he was, "I'll be fine. I'm a good shot, and I'll be with Stefan the whole time."

He squeezed her hand back and looked out the window, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

**XXX**

"You know, if you want Papa to fall in love with you, this whole 'killing his family thing' is pretty counter-productive," Katerina said, picking her nails.

"He's already in love with me. He just doesn't realize it," Qetsiyah said shortly.

"Oh. Right. Your _one true love_," Katerina said mockingly.

"Be careful, little girl."

"What are you going to do, kill me?"

"I can."

"But you won't," Katerina said shortly, "You want Papa to suffer, so you'd rather torture me in front of him. I know how this works."

Qetsiyah shrugged. "But imagine his face when he comes to rescue you to find that you're already gone."

"Yeah, okay lady, whatev—"

There was a short string of gunshots, a scream of pain, and a thump of at least one body hitting the ground outside the room, and Katerina instinctively dropped to the floor, her head covered. She heard Qetsiyah curse under her breath and pull out a gun from the waistband of her jeans. "Don't bother trying to grab the gun. Reaching through the bars will make both cages explode," She shot over her shoulder, before moving into the shadows as another gunshot went off.

Katerina backed up slightly, incredibly uncomfortable with the situation. She was trapped. If whoever was coming in was not friendly, she was a sitting duck. The door burst open and Klaus and Kol walked in slowly, guns out. "Don't come in!" Katerina immediately shouted, making the men pause and back up slightly, "Qetsiyah's behind the box-"

Qetsiyah fired her gun and the bullet buried itself in the wall right by Kol's ear, causing all three of the men to immediately drop to the ground. Kol rolled sideways to aim his gun in the direction the shot had come from, while Marcel had moved forward on his hands and knees, Klaus covering him as they moved, also shooting at the boxes, though much less liberally than Kol.

Katerina was getting the feeling that they hadn't anticipated needing so many bullets.

Marcel had a tablet out that was being hooked up to the explosive almost as soon as he reached the device, as well as phone, which he was checking every few seconds.

Qetsiyah darted out and shot at them again, before returning to her cover behind the boxes, dodging Kol and Klaus's shots and returning fire.

"Almost done," Katerina heard Marcel mutter to Klaus through gritted teeth, who nodded that he'd heard as he took careful aim at Qetsiyah's position and fired again.

"You can't unhook them. If they aren't connected to another bomb it will malfunction and explode on the spot," Qetsiyah said, a hint of arrogance making its way into her voice, "You're just going to kill them both."

Klaus scoffed and started shooting the boxes, making them burst into splinters, causing Qetsiyah to let out a shriek of pain, before the click of his trigger made it clear that he was out of bullets. He swore.

"Done," Marcel announced, throwing down the tablet and disarming the explosive.

It unclicked and clattered harmlessly to the floor, causing the cage door to swing open. Katerina immediately sauntered out, trying to brush the dust off of her clothes before giving up after a few seconds, and instead mourning the loss of a two-hundred dollar dress, her high heels clicking on the concrete floor. "That was anti-climactic."

There was a gunshot from the direction of the boxes and Katerina immediately darted behind Marcel, who doubled over in pain as the shot grazed his leg. "Bitch!" He hissed out between his teeth.

"Sorry not sorry," Katerina said quickly, still hiding behind him.

Klaus sighed dramatically, and Katerina had a feeling that he was simply impatient with this whole business and wanted to kill Qetsiyah and get it over with.

"We're going to kill you, you might as well just surrender now so that you don't waste our time," Klaus said dryly.

"Don't. I have information that might be beneficial to the organization."

"Of course you do," Klaus grumbled, shoving his now-empty gun back into the holster at his waist, still within reach in case he got the opportunity to hit Qetsiyah over the head with it.

"Your mother's not dead, and I know where she is."

Kol froze, his hand dropping to his side, but Klaus just looked amused. "And I'm supposed to care about this_ why_?"

"She's working with Mikael to take down the Travelers."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "She wouldn't do that, she _hates _Mikael."

"Look, I don't know her motives. I just know that it's true. I'll tell you if you let me go."

Kol shoved his gun back in the waistband of his pants and put his hands up. "Fine, come out, tell us where she is."

Klaus gave him a disbelieving look, but Kol returned with one of desperate hope. Katerina knew that Kol and Rebekah hadn't known Esther, and it made sense that he might want to know where she was.

Qetsiyah poked her head out to see if any of them had weapons, and then came out more fully, edging towards the door.

"She's trying to recruit your agents to her little band of mercenaries in New—"

Klaus elbowed his brother in the side, pulled the gun out of the waistband of his pants, and shot Qetsiyah in the stomach before she could finish.

"What the _fuck, _Nik?"

"What?" Klaus asked, looking completely unconcerned by Kol's anger, "We're losing time. Marcellus is injured. Let's go."

"She was about to tell us where Mother—"

"She's not our mother," Klaus interrupted dully, "If she was, she wouldn't have left us. Let's go."

**XXX**

He found himself attacked by a jumping blonde projectile as soon as he made it back to the jet with Katerina in tow. He flinched before hesitantly wrapped his arms around her, smirking slightly at the never-ending stream of "thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou" spilling out of her mouth.

"You know, darling, I did help, too," Kol said irritably from behind Klaus, "Where's my hug?"

Klaus had to restrain himself from punching his own brother, before he realized Kol was trying to provoke him. He was sure that he'd be getting a talk from all of his siblings once they returned, but honestly he wasn't sure why they cared about their mother. After all, he didn't.

"Yeah, but you actually _like _Kat," Caroline was saying, attacking her curly haired friend with a tight hug before realizing what she'd said and pulling back, "Um, no offense."

"No worries. The feeling is definitely mutual," Katerina said dryly, nodding at him.

"Where's Elena?" Katerina asked suddenly, her eyes scanning through her group of friends for her sister.

"She's fine. Just resting on the jet."

Katerina snorted. "More like having a private panic attack," She muttered before making her way up the stairs to see her sister, lingering on the steps with an annoyed look on her face as Jeremy helped a bleeding Marcel up so that he could be patched up.

It then occurred to Klaus that Caroline had just been on a similar rescue mission, and he pulled her back to him, causing her to squeak, and before he could start inspecting her for injuries, she pulled away rolling her eyes. "Don't worry, there wasn't a single gunshot that wasn't ours, but thanks for your concern."

"Yeah, she's a really good shot. Got them all before they even knew what was going on," Matt said, causing Caroline to stiffen.

Klaus immediately realized that it was the guilt hitting her and pulled her near him, letting her take comfort from his arms.

He was getting rather good at this whole comforting business, he thought, feeling proud of himself.

They all boarded the jet, and Caroline immediately pulled him down next to her, snuggling into his side. He felt like he should really stop being surprised whenever she touched him without warning, but it still felt odd. Nonetheless, it was comfortable.

"Thank you," She said again, much more quietly.

He nodded at her. "Of course, love."

He realized that the reason she was snuggling against him was because she was tired when her breathing evened a few minutes later, and he smiled to himself. Katerina and Elena appeared to be arguing about something regarding the wedding, but then Kol gestured to Caroline and told them to be quiet and let her sleep.

Klaus and Stefan both snorted at the same time.

"Caroline could probably sleep through a rocket launch," Stefan said, "Talk as loudly as you want; she won't wake up."

It was less than an hour before they touched down on the runway for private jets at the airport, where there was a small group of agents waiting, presumably to drive them home. Damon was waiting as close to the plane as possible. Elena was off-board first, launching herself into his arms, and Klaus's lip curled.

"I think it's cute," Caroline said quietly from beside him.

He didn't respond, but placed his hand on the small of her back, directing her to the group of cars that were waiting, and he unlocked one of them, holding the passenger door for her.

"Where did you get the keys for that?" Caroline asked.

He smirked. She must have remembered that they were all dropped off in one of the SUVs, and they hadn't left any cars there. "Mason should be much more careful about where he puts his keys."

She opened her mouth, looking like she was about to scold him before closing again, seemingly thinking better of it. He drove them back, and he smiled as Caroline fell asleep again in the passenger seat, her head pressed against the window. They pulled up to the boarding house and he picked her up out of the seat, carrying her up to his bedroom.

He'd never do this for anyone else, he realized as he carefully removed her shoes, trying not to wake her. If this had been Rebekah, she would still be strapped in the car with her cell phone and a text from him to call him when she woke up to let her out.

Caroline gave a little sigh and rolled onto her side, snuggling into his pillow, and he allowed himself a smile before leaving the room and walking down the stairs to his studio.

He hadn't bothered to mention it the day before, but though she'd hated it, he thought she'd looked beautiful in the vintage dress. It had hugged her torso so perfectly, highlighting her breasts and shoulders, and floated out past her hips in a swirl of blues and greens. It was the kind of dress that was made for painting.

He started the sketch on canvas with the shape of her body to get the proportions correctly, as he always did. Her full breasts that led into the curve of her waist and the softness of the swells of her hips and thighs, her thin ankles and delicate toes, uncovered by her shoes in his mind. The shape of the dress was next, its bell skirt and sweetheart neckline elongating the curve of her neck, which was bent slightly so that her curls were spread across the canvas, and her arms spread out beside her as she twirled around the hotel room on her toes, a bright smile lighting up her face.

He could see the scene in his mind's eye, though it had never occurred, Caroline dancing around and around to a song only found in her head…He started painting, adding the creamy color of her skin, the tiny spread of freckles on her nose that only showed if you looked _very_ closely, the curve of her eyebrows, the spread of her eyelashes…

He froze at the gasp behind him and turned to see Caroline, her hair and clothes rumpled from sleep, looking around the studio in complete awe. He had known that she would walk into his studio eventually, and was glad he'd prepared by putting some of her portraits away, and bringing out some old landscapes and a still life or two.

"Caroline?" He asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Klaus," She said weakly, "Did you do all of these?"

He nodded slowly, suddenly concerned by the look of confusion on her face. She moved closer to the nearest one, which was of her on their date on New Year's, her cheeks pinked with cold and eyes bright, dangling a glass of champagne between her fingers. She shot him an impressed look before observing it more closely.

"I painted that after I took you home," He said quietly.

"I mean, I knew that you sketched me," She said slowly, and he nodded, remember his absolute fury with her when she'd looked through it by accident, "But…This is…" She trailed off.

"Not a sketch?" He suggested dryly, raising an eyebrow.

"Definitely not a sketch."

"Do you…not like it?" He asked hesitantly.

Her head snapped to look at him in slight alarm. "No, no. It's…It's beautiful, actually. I don't know how…I mean, I don't look like that."

He grinned before he could stop himself, and she gave him an angry frown, stepping closer to him. "What?" She asked.

"You're much more beautiful than I could ever manage to convey on canvas, Caroline."

It was her turn to laugh, and she did with an eyeroll and a shake of her head. "You can't say things like that."

He smirked. "Why not?"

"Just…Just _because_."

"If you say so."

"I do," She said, frowning, before yawning suddenly, covering her mouth, "Excuse me," She mumbled.

His lips twitched. "You're excused."

She slapped him lightly in the arm, making him grin unrepentantly, before looking at his painting in progress and curling her lip. "I hate that dress."

"I know," He said simply, looking back at the painting, "But I don't."

She rolled her eyes before changing the subject. "Silas wanted me to come see him later this morning. He said he wanted to tell me some things about the organization, and he mentioned that he wanted to talk about you…" She stopped talking when he flinched, and lightly laid a hand on his arm.

He resisted the urge to jerk it away.

"Sorry," She said quietly, "I just want to know…Is there anything you want to tell me? Before I go see Silas?"

He frowned. Was there? He recognized that she was giving him a chance to tell her anything she might not want to hear before she heard it from someone else. But what would Silas tell her? Was it worth the risk to reveal some of the things he knew that she wouldn't approve of? Which would be better?

He didn't want to tell her, but at the same time, he knew it would be worse if she didn't hear it from him.

"I…" He started slowly, "You should know that I…I care about you very much."

She nodded, raising an eyebrow.

"But I don't care about very many other people," He said slowly, causing her to nod along with him, as though she already knew—which she most probably did, "And as a result, I am often the one who interrogates prisoners. I wasn't exactly...encouraged to have sympathy for others as a child, which resulted in me having less of an issue extracting information," He finished slowly, rattling off part of the speech he had gotten from Amara—who had been the counselor for the branch before she'd died and been replaced by Lexi—when he'd been twelve. She'd been the one to immediately recognize that he "didn't play well with others" (her nice way of putting it), and had convinced her husband to help Klaus use it in a productive way.

Productive for the organization, obviously, rather than productive for his own personal health.

"And by 'extracting information' you mean 'torture'?" Caroline asked hesitantly.

He nodded, and she pursed her lips. "Thank you for telling me," She said quietly.

"If you want to know something, I'll always be honest with you, love," he said, causing her to give him a brilliant grin. He mentally congratulated himself on the loophole.

She kissed him lightly on the lips, and he immediately deepened the kiss, resting his hands on her hips and devouring her mouth, biting her bottom lip lightly before soothing it with his tongue, causing her to moan. She pulled back quickly, though.

"I have to meet Silas," She said, an apologetic look on her face.

He resisted the urge to sigh dramatically and instead nodded before kissing her chastely on the cheek and smiling softly at her. "Later, then."

She nodded. "Later."

**XXX**

"So basically what you're saying is that Esther's body was never found, and you think that Mikael kidnapped her?" She asked.

Silas nodded.

"But why would he do that if he was angry at her for cheating on him?" Caroline burst out. _These people make literally no sense._  
He snorted. "He didn't want her help. He wanted her as bait."

"Bait for what?"

"To kill Niklaus and the rest of the children," Silas said simply.

"But…That makes no…_What_?" Caroline spluttered.

Silas shrugged. "I don't pretend to understand the way insane people think, Miss Forbes. And I'm not guaranteeing that I'm correct either, Qetsiyah may be accurate in saying that she's joined him, though I doubt it. My theories usually end up being correct. I think that Mikael kidnapped his wife in order to punish her, and hoping that Niklaus would take the bait. Mikael, however, did not count on Niklaus legitimately not caring about what happened to Esther, and therefore the bait was useless."

"Okay…?"

"He then most likely contacted someone within the agency who was willing to bargain for her life, hoping that they'd make a deal to feed him information. I would also bet that he made a deal with Qetsiyah as well in order to obtain the support of the Hunters."

"So, no offense, but why are you telling me all this? I'm not exactly—"

"He was waiting for Niklaus to care about something significant that he could use," Silas interrupted.

"Oh, _fuck_," Caroline muttered before she could stop herself, looking up at Silas in alarm after she realized she'd sworn in front of her boss.

"That about sums it up," He said dryly.

She sat there in stunned silence for a moment. "So am I banned from missions, then?" She asked nervously.

Silas snorted. "As much as Niklaus would most likely appreciate that, no. We've had much more dangerous situations before, which reminds me: The rest of your team is due here in approximately ten minutes for the brief for the next mission, which will be long term."

"Wait, _what?_" Caroline snapped.

He had literally just spent half an hour telling her that her murderous boyfriend's insane adoptive father was out to kill her and now he was sending her on a mission without giving her time to process?

When she looked up, she was surprised to find him looking rather apologetic. "If you must know, Miss Forbes, I'm not a monster. I suspect that you are the kind of person that throws themselves into their work after a traumatic incident."

She nodded slowly.

"I am trying to do you a favor. In addition, you are the only agent in the United States at the moment who…ah…_Cheered_ in high school."

Um, _what?_

* * *

**January 17****th****, 2013**

"I cannot _believe_ that Silas is making me go back to high school," Caroline complained.

"Yes, love, we understood your dissatisfaction the first five times you expressed it," Klaus said irritably.

"And it's _we, _not _you_," Stefan added.

"If it's any consolation, I am rather unhappy with the situation as well," Stefan snorted and Klaus's head snapped over to look at him, "Something you'd like to say, Ripper?"

Stefan shook his head. "Nothing at all."

The mission was deceptively simple-sounding. Carla and Sherman Amell, a middle-aged couple in their early forties, lived in the suburbs of a northern California town, and used the basement below their estate make and sell some kind of hallucinogen, nicknamed "Vervain," and they were supposed to find the stock and destroy it.

Normally, this would have been easy. Unfortunately, Silas, for some reason, was adamant that every single trace of vervain was destroyed, which meant that they had to find all of it. It wouldn't be a fast job, and they needed a way to stay there.

Which is where Caroline (the future walking cliché) came in. They had a son, Brady, who attended the local school and played left tackle on the school football team. Her job was to date him and get him to let her in their house so that she could find the hiding places.

Worst came to worst, Stefan, who was joining the football team, was the become-the-best-friend backup plan.

Caroline squeezed Klaus's hand, almost cheered up by his sulky expression. "I know it sucks, but we'll still be living together. I promise to disinfect my mouth every time I get home."

"You're hilarious," Klaus muttered, staring out the window.

"Hey, at least we talked Silas out of making you our older brother," Caroline said cheerfully, "You've been demoted to family friend."

Really what she and Stefan had talked Silas out of was sending Klaus near the high school at all. Silas hadn't really needed much convincing anyway.

They pulled up at an apartment building and Finn led them up the stairs before unlocking the apartment door and standing by while they walked in.

"The next semester starts in two days. I'll drive you both down to the school with your paperwork tomorrow. I've called ahead and arranged most of it. Be up at eight, please."

Caroline mock-saluted him. "Sure thing, Dad."

Klaus and Stefan both snorted at Finn, who had wrinkled his nose in a decidedly impolite way.

"That doesn't make me feel old at all."

"You're not old," Caroline reassured him.

Finn had allowed his wife to dye parts of his hair and eyebrows grey, as well as thinning his hair quite a bit, and Caroline could tell that the thirty-one year-old was feeling incredibly self-conscious.

Caroline dragged her suitcases to one of the bedrooms and started to put her clothes away. She'd worked with Katerina and Elena to "de-age" her wardrobe quite a bit, and she wrinkled her nose at the short-shorts and sundresses she would be sporting for the foreseeable future (thank you temperature-low-of-sixty-five-degrees-California-weather).

She heard the door open behind her and turned to see Klaus dragging his suitcase into the room and calmly coming to unpack his in the dresser next to her.

"What are you doing in here?" She asked, trying to fight a slight smile off of her face.

His lips twitched as well. "I live here. Didn't you know?"

She snorted. "Fine, as long as you don't try anything."

She honestly wasn't sure how she felt about what Silas and Klaus had told her. She somehow instinctively knew that Klaus wouldn't hurt her. She wasn't sure, however, how she felt about him hurting other people. She'd have to think about that. And Silas…Well, she wasn't going to tell Klaus that his father was after her, especially as they didn't know if it was true.

"Wouldn't dream of it, love," He said, though he leaned closer, his hot breath on her ear making her shiver, "But if you ask…Who am I to deny the lady what she wishes?"

"Well, we'll see," Caroline said, unable to fight down a smile.

* * *

**January 18th, 2013**

Elena was crying. Again.

She'd been crying for the last week, even before Qetsiyah had kidnapped them, and she was getting sick of it. She didn't even know _why _she was crying. All she knew was that her face felt like it was about to crack open from her tears that she was crying for absolutely no reason.

She had also been especially irritable, which was odd because she was never irritable. Katerina basically had dibs on that personality trait since the time that they were very young, and Elena was perfectly content with being the nice twin.

Elena had, in the past week, become incredibly adept at hiding her tears from her fiancé. She knew that Damon knew something was wrong, but he'd either decided that she was stressed about the wedding, or had figured that she'd talk to him when she was ready.

The front door opened and she scrambled to wipe the tears from her face as Damon walked into their bedroom. "Are you crying again?" He asked.

"What are you? The crying police?"

"No," Damon said slowly, seeming to realize he'd said the wrong thing, "I've just noticed that you've been…off for the last few days."

"Oh, I'm sorry to inconvenience you with my tears," Elena said irritably, pushing herself off the bed and stomping out of the room towards the kitchen.

Damon caught up with her quickly and touched her arm gently, and she shook him off. "Elena, calm down."

"_Calm down_?" She asked incredulously.

His mouth firmed and he seemed to root his feet to the floor before answering. "Yes. Calm down and tell me what's wrong. I've been worried about you all week."

"Oh, _you've _been worried? I'm _so sorry_, I will try my hardest to be a decent human being and limit my crying to times when you aren't present."

"Look, I know that the whole Qetsiyah thing must have been hard for you—"

"It wasn't _the Qetsiyah thing_. I just…I've been feeling weird lately."

He nodded slowly. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Not especially, no."

"Do you want to see Lexi?"

"Why would I want to see Lexi?"

"You sound…depressed," He said hesitantly.

"I'm fine," Elena said shortly, wondering how he'd come to that conclusion. She was sad, yes, but she still felt like doing things. She'd just been so tired lately…

Oh, good lord.

She felt her eyes widen and she swallowed hard. Had she gotten her period in December? No, no she hadn't.

"_Fuck._"

It was an unwritten rule that all the women in the organization start using some form of ongoing contraceptive method when they were old enough to need it if they were going to be field agents. Elena had chosen the pill (the other choice was an IUD, and she didn't particularly want Sage's hands anywhere near her lady parts to stick in something that would stay there for an indeterminate amount of time, no matter how scientifically proven the safety was, thank you very much), and though she had stopped working on the field in her late teens, she kept using it out of convenience. She must have missed a dose or two.

"Is there a reason that you look like someone just killed your puppy?" Damon asked.

"I need to see Sage."

"Now?"

She frowned at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "No, now as in next week. Yes, _now_."

Damon clearly had decided that it was pointless to argue any longer and grabbed his keys letting her follow him to the car. He unsuccessfully tried to wheedle out what she thought was wrong with her during the ten minute drive, but she refused to answer.

She couldn't have a child. She didn't even feel like an adult yet.

And Damon…She didn't know whether Damon wanted children. They'd talked about it vaguely earlier on in their relationship, but they'd both put it off as something to talk about later. In the agency, it wasn't common to have more than one, and they usually waited until later in life.

Sage made time to see her, and she made Damon wait in the lobby. Ten minutes later, she had her answer.

How was she going to tell Damon that they were going to have a child?

Forget Damon, how was she going to tell _Kat?_

* * *

**January 19****th****, 2013**

She felt the mattress sink in beside her and someone pulling her to them and nudging her shoulder slightly.

"Caroline, you need to wake up," Klaus said.

"No thank you," She mumbled, scooting closer to him and burying her face into his chest.

She could feel him laughing, and she frowned.

"It's seven o'clock."

"I don't want to go to school," She said sullenly, pulling back from him and yawning.

"You told me to let you sleep until seven. I just heard Stefan get into the shower."

Caroline groaned. "He takes _forever_, though. Why did you wake me up?"

"Because he takes forever, and so you'll want to have coffee and eat before you take yours, I'm sure," Klaus said promptly.

Why did he know her so well?

She rolled away from him, swinging herself out of bed and accepted the cup of coffee he handed to her.

"Thank you."

He nodded and laid back down on the bed, watching her as she started flipping through her closet. She wanted to make a good impression, but she didn't want to stand out too much.

She had checked the dress code the day before, and it was a lot less rigid than she was expecting. She drained her coffee and set it on the dresser before she pulled out a pair of white shorts and a floaty turquoise tank top, holding them up in front of her critically. She knew Klaus was still watching her and she turned around to glare at him. "Since you seem to have nothing better to do than watch me pick out my clothes, do these look okay?" She asked, holding them up.

"Those shorts are very short," He said.

She nodded. "That would be the point."

She heard the shower shut off and grabbed her make-up bag and clothes before heading into the bathroom. Her shower was quick—she had to be ready by seven forty-five—and she blew her hair dry as quickly as possible, abandoning the hair dryer and scrunching it a bit with her fingers when she realized that she was short on time and had to let it air dry. Klaus was still lying on the bed when she returned to her room to fasten her earrings and find shoes, though he now had his sketchbook in his hands.

He looked up at her and his eyes narrowed. "You're going out to school in that?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with it?" She asked, stepping in front of the mirror to check for stains or holes.

"You're meant to be in high school. Are you sure that's appropriate?"

She laughed. "There will be girls wandering around in less, I promise. And anyway, those boys can look, but they can't touch me," She said consolingly, walking over to pat his shoulder, before adding with a sly smile, "Well, except Brady."

She squeaked as pulled her down so that she landed on top of him before he rolled over to pin her beneath him, kissing her roughly, his fingers digging into the coarse fabric covering her hips. She responded immediately, her fingers winding into his hair as she arched her back, nibbling on his bottom lip, moaning slightly as his hands crept under her tank top, stroking the soft skin of her abdomen. He pulled away and began placing hot wet kisses on her neck, and the door flew open, revealing Stefan in the doorway, who immediately clapped his hands over his eyes.

"Caroline, it's time to go," He said, his hands still covering his eyes, "And having hickeys when we go to school will more than slightly defeat the whole purpose of this."

She sighed, disentangling herself from Klaus's arms and placing a last kiss on his lips. "I'll see you later."

She followed Stefan to the front room where Finn was waiting with a bagel for her. He pushed his car keys into her hand. "You'll drop me off on the way."

They piled into the car, Caroline scowling at the black and white polka-dot backpack Finn had packed for her, and after dropping him off a few blocks away they pulled up in front of the school.

"Ready?" Stefan asked.

"As I'll ever be."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading, and for the follows and favorites and reviews!  
So, that was a reasonably action-filled chapter. Next chapter we'll see more of the mission (which involves Caroline becoming at least semi-involved with a person that's not Klaus) (Do I see some Jealous!Klaus in our future?) (Why yes, yes I do) and a bit more of the sub-plot action (including why Elena is anxious about telling Katerina that she's having a baby).  
****Also, any guesses to who the mole might be? I want to hear all of them ^_^  
Hint: It's probably not your first guess ;)  
****Please review even if you don't have any guesses :P  
Also, Arrow reference. Sorrynotsorry.**

**Hugs!  
-Angie **


	15. Walking Cliché

**A/N: Happy Thursday, everyone! :)  
I am completely and utterly floored that you guys are responding to this story as much as you are. You guys are super awesome, and I'm so thankful for your feedback :D From your reviews and PMs, I have gathered that you have been waiting for this chapter (read: The last scene of this chapter) for awhile, and I can't believe you waited over 85,000 words :P**

**Just so I don't get a bunch of reviews yelling at me: Yes, I do know that high school football season technically ends at winter break. Brady &amp; Friends (and Stefan) are on the Spring track team (because that's a requirement for the football team). I don't know anything about Cheerleading in high school, but from what I gather, they do not practice year-round. Suspend your disbelief ;)**

**I have a new story up, which is my take on the MateAU trope, called _Linked. _You guys should go read that, too. The updates (as with _Circuit Break_) will be unscheduled, but hopefully fairly regular.  
I am very excited to share this chapter with you. Thank you justanotherfiveminutes and wondygal for your amazing beautiful fantastic beta work.  
Enjoy!  
-Angie **

* * *

**January 19****th****, 2013**

Caroline had forgotten how much she hated math. It wasn't that she was especially bad at it (because she wasn't), she just didn't like how easy it was to forget everything she'd done in high school so quickly.

She was supposed to have Calculus first period, but the teacher pulled her aside into a tiny classroom and handed her a test. Apparently she needed to take a placement test so that she wasn't "lost".

She'd taken Calculus before, but she didn't remember everything. She knew the chain rule and she could find the derivative of a simple equation and that was about as good as she got. She did fine on the first half of the test, she was sure, but once she got to Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus she was a bit shaky. She wasn't sure what class Brady was in, so she didn't even know if she should purposefully get into a class, so she just decided to do her best and hope that Brady was good at math.

When the teacher came back to get her test at the end of the period, he asked her to come to his office at lunchtime so that he could tell her where she was.

She nodded and thanked him politely before heading to English Literature.

When she entered she scanned the classroom quickly for Stefan, who had been placed in the same class as her for English. She sat down next to him and pulled out her notebook. She felt someone sit next to her and she glanced up to see a small brunette. "Who are you?" The girl asked, though she didn't sound rude as much as curious.

"I'm Claire," Caroline said, smiling and shaking the girl's hand, "And this is my twin brother Stuart—"

"Stu is fine. _Please _don't call me Stuart," Stefan interrupted.

"I'm Davina," The girl said, smiling brightly. "Did you guys just move here, or something?"

Caroline nodded.

"Cool."

Their attention was diverted by the teacher rapping on his desk and shouting, "Eyes up here, everyone! Thank you. I hope you all had a restful break and are ready to start talking about _The Great Gatsby._"

There was a collective groan around the room that Caroline had to restrain herself from taking part in.

She _hated _high school.

**XXX**

Caroline walked into the gym in her tight shorts and tank top, ready for her tryout. Finn had called ahead to the Cheerleading Coach, Jane-Anne, and told her that his daughter had just transferred, and did she have a moment after school to just see if she could make the team?

Jane-Anne had told him to have her come with a routine from her old school and ready to learn new material, and Caroline was _so _ready.

The coach was sitting in a chair with a clipboard, but she smiled and stood up to shake Caroline's hand. "Hi Claire, I'm Jane-Anne, the Cheerleading Coach here. your father told me that you're looking for a space on the squad."

Caroline nodded. "Yeah."

There was a gorgeous brunette sitting next to Jane-Anne, her legs crossed boredly. The Cheerleading Coach gestured to the girl and said, "This is Hayley. She's our captain this year."

Hayley pasted what Caroline recognized as a fake smile, though she had to admit that the girl could have fooled most people, and stuck out her hand, which Caroline shook.

"So, let's see what you can do," She said, nodding at the mats.

Caroline nodded, took a deep breath, and launched into her old high school routine, which she knew by heart, even after two years without doing it.

After all, she'd had to pound it into every cheerleader's head until they could do it with their eyes shut.

Hayley's eyes were following her every move critically, but Jane-Anne was nodding as she watched.

Caroline finished off with a triple-back-handspring (thank _god _she'd stayed in shape), and Jane-Anne looked very impressed.

"Hayley and I will talk about it, and we'll let you know tomorrow."

_See? It _was_ useful. Take that, Alaric._

**XXX**

She didn't know how she was going to tell him. And she had to, it wasn't like she was going to get any less pregnant. She sighed as she rolled over in bed again. Damon had apparently had enough and rolled over to face her. "Elena. What is going on?"

"I'm pregnant," She burst out.

_Shit_. That was not how she wanted to say it.

Not that she knew how she wanted to say it anyway, and she probably should have broken it to him a _little _bit more gently, but what's done was done.

He didn't smile.

"Are you…okay?"

"Yeah. I mean. It's…yeah. I'm fine. Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Weren't you on the pill?"

"I guess I missed a dose or two. You know. Qetsiyah drama," Elena said, smiling weakly.

"Are you happy?" Damon asked hesitantly.

"Are you?"

He sighed, rolling onto his back, his hands now behind his head. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't know."

"Me neither."

He snorted. "Yeah, well, there you go."

"You're being really calm about this," Elena said, frowning.

She'd expected hyperventilating, or at least some kind of emotional reaction, but Damon looked completely relaxed.

"Well, I love you, and I know you want kids, so it was going to happen inevitably whether I wanted it to or not."

"Excuse—"

"I didn't mean it that way," He said, hastening to reassure her, "I just reconciled myself to having a mini-Damon or two."

"What if it's a mini-Elena?" She joked, Damon's attitude putting her at ease.

He snorted. "Do you mean a mini-Damona?"

She elbowed him hard in the side and he grunted. "Either way, we'll do it together right?"

She could almost _feel_ his eyeroll even though he wasn't looking at her. "Yeah," He said, his voice sounding surprisingly choked up, making her smile, "We will."

They were quiet for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts before Damon spoke again. "Have you told Tinkerbell?"

Elena sighed. "Nope."

"When are you going to do that?"

"I don't know."

* * *

**January 20****th****, 2013**

Caroline sighed as she sat in the car and waited for her cue to come talk to Stefan. He was on the field with the rest of the football team, and she was waiting for their practice to be over.

It was only a few minutes until she saw them head to the locker rooms as a large group, and she got out and waited for Stefan.

All he had to do was make sure that he and Brady left together.

It was only about fifteen minutes of waiting before Stefan walked out, talking to Brady and another guy. She recognized him from the pictures they'd been given. He was handsome and tall, definitely taller than Stefan, and an easy smile. His walk was confident and he seemed like he and Stefan were already getting along very well.

She pasted on a smile and walked right up to them.

"Hey Claire," Stefan said, pulling her into a one-armed hug.

"Hey. Ready to go?" She asked.

He shrugged and she turned to Brady and the other kid, who were looking at her in confusion. She stuck out her hand. "Hi. I'm Claire, Stu's sister."

He grinned back at her and shook her hand. "Brady. And this is Mike."

"Nice to meet you. Ready to go, Stu?"

"Actually, they invited me to go out tonight with a bunch of people."

"She can come too, if she wants," Brady said, shooting Caroline a sideways look.

"Yeah. I'd like that," Caroline said shyly, before giving Mike a small nod and shooting Brady a one-thousand watt smile.

**XXX**

When Katerina entered her grandfather's office, she found her sister sitting in front of the desk, twisting her fingers nervously.

"What's going on?" Katerina asked immediately, sitting down next to her sister, "Is everything all right?"

"I have something to tell you," Elena said quietly.

"So I gathered," Silas said dryly, looking at Elena intently.

"I'm pregnant."

Katerina felt her stomach twist painfully. Elena was _pregnant_? She knew it would happen sooner or later. It wasn't as if her sister could go through life not being a mother, but now…It was unexpected, and she felt her eyes fill with unwanted and unshed tears.

"Congratulations," She said thickly, but genuinely.

Elena deserved her support, at least.

"I'm sorry, Kat—"

"Don't be sorry," Katerina interrupted gently, taking a glance at Silas, who seemed paralyzed by fear and confusion, "It was going to happen at some point. I'm—I'm happy for you."

Elena's face lit up in a bright smile. "Really?"

Katerina nodded, and Elena gave her a warm hug. "I have to go," Katerina said quietly, "I'll see you in a bit."

Elena's smile faltered. "Of course."

Katerina got up and walked down to Elijah's office, her heels clicking on the floor harshly. She knocked on the door and poked her head in, finding Elijah nose-deep in papers.

He looked up. "Katerina, I'm work—What is wrong?"

Katerina stood in the doorway, closing the door behind her, trying to blink her tears away.

"Fuck me."

"I beg your pardon?" Elijah asked, raising an eyebrow and putting his papers on the desk.

"Fuck. Me."

He stood up, straightening his suit and pushing his chair in behind the desk. "As much as I would love to, Katerina, pardon me for saying this, but you're crying. Tell me what's going on, and then perhaps afterwards."

She snorted at his formal tone and how his work of proposing deals and compromises bled into his personal life, but let the tears fall, allowing Elijah to pull her into his arms and stroke her hair.

"Elena's going to have a baby," Katerina said slowly through her sniffles.

Elijah gave her a squeeze and began to rock her.

"And I see that you are overjoyed."

Katerina scoffed, which turned into a hiccup. "Clearly."

He sighed and pulled away slightly to kiss her forehead. "Katerina, I know that you must be upset right now, but—"

"Upset? Of course I'm _upset_. I mean, I've known that I can't have kids for years now, but I just didn't think...I mean, she just sort-of rubbed it in. And I know she didn't mean to, because Elena's _Elena _and she's probably sitting in Papa's office right now crying her eyes out thinking that I hate her, but I _don't. _I just hate that she has the option and I don't."

Elijah remained quiet and let her talk, stroking her hair and rubbing her back, giving her sanctuary in his strong arms. She sniffled.

"I don't even want kids right now, and Elena's batshit for wanting them. We're twenty-one. We have places to _go _in life. But that doesn't mean that I don't want the choice someday, and I...I _hate _that she has the choice and I don't. It just...She made me realize that it's actually happening, you know? That I don't have a choice. And...and I'm _furious _that I don't."

"Katerina…"

"No, Elijah, I just…It's so unfair. We were trained all our lives to work for Papa, and she's too _weak _to do it, and _I'm _the one who ends up with the fucked-up ovaries. I'm the fucked-up bitchy evil twin, and I took that fucking knife for her, and now she gets to do the one thing that I want more than _anything _to be able to do_._"

"You were lucky to survive that attack, Katerina. It was, in my opinion, a small price to pay."

"But I did pay it, and I can't even do anything about it, because I'm _happy_ for her. And I _hate _that I am. I _hate _that I can't hate her. Everyone thinks that she's so suited for motherhood. I've heard Sage tell her she'd be a good mother about a million times, but me? No, _Katerina _is better suited for torture and murder and _anger_ than motherhood. Even if I had the option, I can do my job and I can emotionally detach from it, but I don't get to stop being a killer off the clock. I go home every day knowing that there are dead people all over the world because of me. They might not be good people, but they're still dead. Mothers give life, they don't kill."

"We could adopt…"

"From what adoption agency, exactly? Who's going to give a baby to a girl with no birth certificate? I don't _exist _Elijah." She said shrilly, not noticing his shift from "You" to "We."

"Perhaps someone here will have a baby someday that they will not be able to care for."

Katerina snorted and buried her face back into his chest.

"It's better to just face the fact that I'll never have one, Elijah," She said, her voice muffled.

"There is always hope, Katerina."

"No," She said, choking on her words, "It's better this way. Who would want a murderer for a mother?"

**XXX**

"Where are we going, anyway?" Caroline asked Stefan as she lagged behind under the pretense of getting her purse out of her car, grabbing his arm to get him to stay with her.

"There's a community center with a bunch of bar games and stuff."

"Okay," She said, closing the car trunk and handing Stefan the keys.

She jogged back over to where Brady and Mike were waiting. "Stu's going to follow us in our car. I don't want to leave it here overnight."

"Yeah, no problem," Brady said, opening the passenger door for her.

She smirked as she saw Mike-who must be about a head taller than her-shoot Brady a glare at making him cramp his legs into the backseat.

"Thanks for letting me tag along," She said, smiling at Brady.

The car ride was short, and Brady and Mike peppered her with questions about herself and Stefan.

When they arrived, Caroline slid out of the car and followed them in, pausing in the doorway to take in the sight. It was a giant room with squishy couches and chairs, with a bookshelf that had board games stacked precariously with differently sized books taking up the shelves, a pool table, a television, and a few tables.

Brady jerked his head towards the group of people lounging on the couches, and she followed him over. There were about ten of them, and she saw Hayley on one of the couches next to another girl who she'd seen in passing that day in one of her classes, Hayley smiled at Brady before her look went cold when her eyes found Caroline.

"Guys," He said, speaking over everyone who turned to look at him, "This is Claire. She and her brother Stu are new."

"We've met," Hayley drawled, "How was football practice? Was Coach Edwards giving you a tough time again?" Hayley asked sweetly.

Brady shrugged. "It wasn't awful. He's pretty impressed with Stu, and we haven't gotten too distracted by Christmas or anything, so he's been pretty cool with us. How'd you two meet already?"

"I was on the Cheerleading team at my old school, and so I got a tryout here, and I made it," Caroline said happily.

"Yeah. She did," Hayley echoed, sounding vaguely insulted that her Cheerleading Coach would ever consider letting Caroline anywhere near the team at all, but Caroline decided to ignore the underlying hostility of Hayley's words.

"Yeah, it's nice to see you again, Hayley," She said, a huge smile on her face.

The other girl just rolled her eyes at Caroline's greeting and turned back to her phone.

_Bitch_.

Brady sent Hayley a slight frown, which the other girl didn't notice, and turned to Caroline slightly sheepishly. "Sorry. Hayley and I have been friends since we were little kids. She's kinda overprotective. Don't worry about her, she's really nice once you get to know her, I promise," He said in an undertone.

Caroline had to restrain a snort at this, suspecting that Hayley was nice because she probably liked Brady. "It's fine."

She was introduced to a few other people and she smiled and greeted them all appropriately, answering questions and giggling at the right times. Eventually, she realized that she wouldn't get to know him by sitting next to him talking to ten other people. "So, what do you guys normally do here?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Just hang out, mostly."

"Do you ever use the pool table?"

He gave her a confused look. "Do you like, know how to play pool? Or something?"

She nodded. "A little, yeah. I can hold my own mostly, but I'm not great at it. You?"

He grinned. "Yeah. Want to play?"

She nodded, following him to the pool table and vaguely aware of Hayley's glare burning into her back.

She knew perfectly well how to play pool, and she was reasonably good, too. She realized quickly that he was good enough to beat her on his own, and decided to actually try, which resulted in Brady being mildly impressed with her while still letting him pull off the cliché bend-over-her-and-help-her-make-shots move.

She weirdly found herself having fun, and she could tell that he was enjoying himself too. He seemed to like her, which would make her job a lot easier. Even though Brady wasn't the most interesting person in the world, and they didn't really have much in common, he was funny and smart, and they found shallow things to talk about that were interesting enough to keep her occupied as she tried to find the balance between being too interested and being friendly. It helped that she'd studied enough about the things that he did like (she knew more facts about the Oakland Raiders and football in general now than the average season-ticket holder) that she could hold her own in a conversation and form her own opinions.

All in all, the evening wasn't terrible. Finn texted her and Stefan around eight to tell them that they were wanted at home, and so they had to bid everyone good bye.

"It was nice to meet you, Brady," Caroline said as she put her phone in her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.

"You too. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. See you," She said, giving him a wide smile before following Stefan out of the room towards their car.

* * *

**January 21****st****, 2013**

"Claire?"

It took Caroline a moment to realize that he was talking to her, but once she did she turned to smile at him.

"Hi, Brady. What's up?"

"Do you...Do you want to go out sometime?"

She felt a tug of regret at his hopeful face. The kid probably didn't even know about the way his parents were spending their time, and she was essentially seducing an impressionable eighteen-year-old.

Brady seemed really nice and considerate, and she honestly felt incredibly uncomfortable with her mission. She'd expected some awful arrogant jock, but Brady was different.

She was a _terrible _person.

She ruthlessly squashed down the feeling, though, and smiled warmly. "Yeah. That would be great."

He gave her a bright smile. "Awesome. Are you free the day after tomorrow? Around six?"

She bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

"Great. Should I...Do you want me to pick you up? Or do you want to meet me?"

"You can pick me up. I'll text you my address."

"I don't think I have your number."

She smirked. "Well, we'll just have to fix that then, won't we."

* * *

**January 23****rd****, 2013**

"I had fun tonight," Caroline said, smiling at Brady as he walked her to the front door of the apartment building.

"Me too," He said, grinning at her as they stopped in front.

She put her hand on the front of the apartment door, purposefully hesitating to give him an opening.

"Do you want to come out with me next week sometime? We could see a movie on Monday, if you'd like."

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. I'd like that."

He hesitated for a second before he bent down and kissed her, and she responded for a second before pulling back. "My dad's probably home," She said apologetically.

"Yeah. Sorry. See you tomorrow."

"See you."

She turned around and walked into the apartment complex making her way up the stairs and hurriedly unlocking the door.

"How did it go?" Klaus asked from the couch, his eyes on his sketchbook where his pencil was flying across the paper.

He was in the exact same place as he'd been a few hours before when Brady had picked her up, the only change in environment being a few scrunched up sketches on the floor and the addition of two extra empty mugs sitting on coasters on the coffee table with teabag strings peeking out of the tops.

Honestly, a better reaction than she'd anticipated (though, really, any reaction would be better than him waiting in front of the apartment building with a gun, which is what she half-expected when they pulled up).

"It was fine. We went out to dinner, and he asked me out again. Where's Stefan?"

Klaus smirked. "Finn had to take him to a conference with the Football Coach. Something about fees for uniforms and school policies."

"When will they be back?"

He shrugged. "In about forty-five minutes most likely."

"Okay. I need to go brush my teeth."

His head snapped up to look at her. "Did he kiss you?"

"Of course he did. We went on a date and he's a teenage boy."

Something flashed in Klaus's eyes before his mouth fell into a hard line and he turned back to his sketchbook and resumed sketching. Once she was done in the bathroom, she kicked off her heeled ankle boots in the closet and came back to the front room to sit next to him.

"I'm just as unhappy with this as you are."

He nodded shortly.

"The entire date I could only think of the way you would have done things. He was boring, and he didn't hold open doors for me or help me with my jacket."

His eyes flicked up at her for a moment before returning to his sketchbook, and he snorted and shook his head. "Is that why you like me? Because Sage ensured that I had a basic grasp of politeness, and his parents appear to have made no such effort to do the same?"

"Nope," She said cheerfully, "I like you because you're interesting, and you treat me well, and you're smart, and you draw me pretty pictures."

He grunted in recognition of her statement, but didn't respond verbally, making her roll her eyes and grab his wrist to stop his pencil, pulling it and the sketchbook out of his hand, dropping them on the floor, and slinging a leg over his lap, straddling him. He stiffened for a moment, but then his hands found her hips and he pulled her closer so that they were nose-to-nose.

She rested her hands on his shoulders, giving him a serious look. "I don't think you understand the lack of appeal he holds after being with you."

"I guess not," He grumbled, clearly not willing to let her off easily, and she sighed.

"I don't want to inflate your ego too much, but you make me feel...safe, I guess. I feel good when I'm around you. I haven't met anyone else that can do that for me. You make me happy."

He gave her a deer-in-headlights sort of look and she gave him a mischievous smile. "And if it makes you feel any better, you're a _much _better kisser."

The heated look he gave her almost made her shiver and his lips were immediately on hers. She would never be able to describe how it felt to kiss him, she thought. His lips on hers burned her in the best way as they caressed her mouth before he scraped his teeth along her lower lip and down the side of her neck.

She'd figured out early on that he liked using his teeth to leave marks on her, and she tilted her head to the side as he made his way down to her collarbone, his teeth scraping along her neck, soothing the marks with hot, wet kisses, his tongue dancing along the hollow of her throat.

She moaned, grinding her hips down onto the growing hardness in his jeans, causing him to pant slightly against her neck. His hands traveled down to stroke her thighs before sneaking back up under the skirt of her dress to play with the waistband of her thong, and she ground against him again, the way the roughness of the fabric rubbed against her barely covered pussy causing her to moan more loudly.

She suddenly remembered that Finn and Stefan were due home in less than forty minutes, and considered her options. She wanted this. Badly. And her choices at this point were basically to either let Stefan and Finn catch them in the living room, or have them realize what was going on when they walked into the apartment so that they left again, therefore avoiding any direct interaction. She wriggled off of Klaus, still breathing harshly. "Bedroom," She panted, tugging him off the couch, causing him to raise his eyebrows.

"Are you positive?"

She gave him an incredulous look as she pulled him towards their room. "Having second thoughts?"

His response was to immediately press her against the closed door, attacking her lips with his, his tongue plundering her mouth, his erection noticeable against her lower belly, his thumbs rubbing circles on her thighs before he pulled back slightly and lightly tugged on the tiny scrap of fabric covering her core, pulling it down slightly so that he could run his finger along her slit, smiling into her mouth when she moaned.

He pulled his lips away to place fleeting kisses on her cheek before nibbling her ear, his hot breath making her shiver as she buried her head against his shoulder, even as she felt the heat of his hand trailing up her side to unhook her bra under her dress as the other caressed her folds.

"So wet for me, Caroline," He breathed into her ear, "Were you thinking about coming home to me during your date with that boy?"

She nodded against his shoulder, knowing that he felt it when she felt him smile against the sensitive skin under her ear before he tugged the earlobe with his teeth, soothing the bite with his tongue.

Her hands gripped the back of his shirt tightly as one of his came to rest on her breast under the bra hanging uselessly in front of her torso, his fingers tugging at her nipple while his other hand continued to stroke her pussy.

"Please," She mumbled as his fingers danced so close to her entrance but pulled away to lazily stroke her.

"Please what?"

"I need you," She mumbled against him.

"Spread your legs a bit more for me, love."

She did and he immediately plunged a finger into her, causing her to moan and her knees to weaken slightly. He moved his hand down to rest against her lower back, steadying her as he thrust his finger into her, adding another.

"You like that, don't you?" He muttered against her ear as his thumb started to rub her clit, making her moan even more loudly.

Her hands darted down to his chest, pushing him away slightly. He immediately stopped, pulling his fingers out, his eyes widening when he realized her intent as she pulled her dress over her head and shrugging off her bra, both of them falling to the floor. She bent down to slide her thong off, stepping out of it, grinning at the look of pure lust on his face as he observed her, his eyes lingering on her breasts and wandering down to her legs.

He rested a hand on her hip and cupped one of her breasts in the other, stroking her nipple lightly so that it puckered under his fingertips, her breath catching. His hands then moved down her back to grip the backs of her thighs, his fingers darting between her legs for a moment to stroke her lightly before pulling back at the small moans escaping her mouth.

She pressed herself against him, dropping a kiss on his neck, her nipples rubbing pleasurably against the fabric of his Henley before she tugged it over his head, throwing it to the side. He appeared to be startled by her taking control and frowned, a predatory look entering his eyes as he kicked off his jeans and roughly claimed her mouth again, pushing her back against the door and cupping her ass, lifting her up slightly so that her legs could wrap around his waist.

His hard barely-covered cock rubbed against her and he kept his hands on her ass while his lips found one of her breasts, licking and sucking lightly on her nipple, causing her to writhe against him, her arms circling his neck, burying her fingers in his hair.

He pulled back to pepper her chest with kisses and licks, and then pulled her against him to carry her to the bed, dropping her down onto it, pulling off his boxers and crawling on top of her, propping himself up on his elbows.

She connected her eyes with his, spreading her legs so that his cock brushed against her folds, her eyes fluttering as she moaned at the sensation, her breath coming out in harsh pants. She reached down to stroke him a few times before positioning him at her entrance. "I want you," She said, her voice quiet but serious, "Now. Please."

He entered her in one swift thrust, stretching her, and she wrapped her legs around him to bring him in even deeper, breathy moans escaping her no matter how much she tried to hold them back.

He took her hard and fast, the bed bouncing at he pounded into her, and she writhed underneath him, cursing and panting, before he grabbed her wrists and pinned them down next to her head to keep her still, his mouth attacking her neck.

She could feel her orgasm building inside her as he slammed into her, and she spread her legs even more as she matched the rhythm of his thrusts. "I'm so close," She gasped out.

"Come for me, love. I want to feel you come around my cock," He growled into her ear, "I want to hear you scream for me while I fuck you. I want you to scream my name and remember who you come home to, who you _belong _to."

She knew that she should probably be offended by his words, but she couldn't bring herself to be. The warmth spreading through her body as he whispered the most sinful possessive words into her ear, telling her how _good _and _tight _she felt around him and how much he liked the look on her face, the sounds she made for him, the way her body writhed against his as he pleasured her, and how when he was done with her she wouldn't remember her own name let alone the one of the boy.

She gasped out a string of obscenities and oaths and _please _and _oh my god_ and_ yes, Klaus, right there _and she felt that coil in her belly tighten more with every second until she shook with the pleasure of it and came around him, gasping his name over and over and over, out of breath and _sated _as he watched her with dark eyes, pounding into her, seeking his own release, and when he found it her name escaped his mouth in a low groan and she felt his harsh pants on her ear as he rode out his orgasm inside her and let go of her wrists, planting a last rough possessive kiss on her lips and trapping her in his arms, pulling her in to rest against his chest as their breathing evened.

* * *

**A/N: I really hope you enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed writing it ;)  
I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter, especially the last scene. Did it live up to your expectations? Was the level of possessiveness in this too much? Too little? Just right? Please give me your feedback!  
****Thank you so much again for the reviews, follows, and favorites I have received so far. It makes me so happy that you guys are still enjoying this. :')  
Hint for the mole: It is not a Mikaelson.  
****Any new guesses? ;)  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	16. Morning After

****A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites (I still can't believe this has over 300...)! It's still Thursday where I am, so this isn't late yet :P  
There have been some requests for Cheerleader Uniform sex. That's not in this chapter, and I obviously can't promise anything, but it is very likely to happen in the future. There is smut in this, though, and this chapter also has about as much fluff as Dark!Klaus can handle believably. :)  
Thank you to justanotherfiveminutes for beta-ing!  
Enjoy!  
-Angie****

* * *

**January 24th, 2013**

He heard her groan quietly as the alarm clock blared, and grinned as he watched her blindly groping the bedside table to turn it off. She shifted against him and he became acutely aware of how her naked body felt pressed against his.

"Morning," She mumbled sleepily, rolling onto her back and rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning, love."

She rolled towards him and smiled hesitantly, kissing him quickly before withdrawing. "I need to get ready for school," She said, before making a face, "Ugh. That sounds awful."

He laughed, his eyes fixed on her ass as she slid out of bed, and she shot a glance at him over her shoulder as she grabbed a robe so that she could go take a shower and wrapped it around herself. "You're staring."

Of course he was staring. She was his now, finally, and he liked to look at her (and her perfect legs).

He got out of bed before she could leave the room and pulled her against him to kiss her, nibbling her lip and unfastening the knot of her robe right after she'd tied it, running his hands down her sides. She pulled away slowly. "Klaus, I have to go get ready."

She did look apologetic. "All right," He said agreeably.

He could wait. Now that he knew that she wouldn't leave, now that he'd taken her, he could wait.

He pulled on some sweatpants after she left and went to the kitchen, thankful that Finn had woken up before him and put the kettle on.

Stefan could cook a six-course meal perfectly, but the man was hopeless at making something as simple as tea.

Klaus hummed to himself as he flipped on the coffee maker for Caroline–even _he _was scared of her when she didn't have her morning coffee–and pulled some cereal out of the cupboard, pouring himself a bowl. He settled down at the table next to Finn, who was clutching his tea cup and staring longingly at his cell phone.

"You look…" Klaus started, trying to find the right word, eventually settling for the all-purpose, "...upset."

Finn sighed, taking a sip of his tea. "I miss Sage and the children."

Klaus nodded uncomfortably, not quite sure how to respond to Finn's statement.

Thankfully, Finn had apparently decided to change the subject. "Caroline has cheerleading practice today. Stefan doesn't have track, though, so he's going to drive himself home. There's a block party down the street, and you'll pick Caroline up from practice later and drop Stefan and I off there on the way."

He nodded, deciding not to question why Stefan was going to be unavailable.

He heard someone enter the room, and looked up to see Stefan standing in the doorway, his hair a complete mess. Stefan poured himself some coffee and sat down at the tiny kitchen table.

"I hate you."

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Good morning to you as well, Stefan."

"I owe Kat $20."

"Why, did she pick up some extra hair product at the drug store?"

Stefan glared at him. "No. You slept with Caroline."

"Why would you bet on whether I'd sleep with Caroli–"

"_You bet on my sex life_?" Caroline screeched from the doorway.

Stefan turned to her with a horrified look on his face, clearly having not intended to tell her that he'd done so. "Caroline…"

"Oh, don't even," Caroline said, "You are the _worst _best friend ever. Ugh."

Klaus snorted, but realized it was the wrong thing to do when she turned on him, fury in her eyes, "And _you._"

"What did I do?"

"You told him?"

"No, I didn't." Klaus said, before turning to Stefan, "How did you know?"

Stefan took a sip of his coffee as though it were liquid courage. "Youweren'texactlyquiet," He mumbled into his cup, so quickly that if Klaus hadn't been listening intently he wouldn't have caught it.

He did, though, and fought back a smirk.

No, she definitely hadn't been.

Caroline, on the other hand, looked even angrier, and Klaus was very happy that he wasn't on the business end of her glare. She and Stefan had a stare off for a few moments, which looked more like an angry tiger staring down a bunny than two best friends having a disagreement, before she let out a huff and stalked into the kitchen, pulling a mug out of the kitchen cupboard and setting it harshly on the counter. She wrenched the coffee pot out of its place and poured herself a cup, pulling it to her lips to take a sip.

Stefan still looked as though he thought that she might stab him at any second, and slowly stood up. "I'm going to go take a shower."

"You do that," Caroline bit out, "And I swear to all that is holy if you don't hang up your towel I will show you how well Kat taught me to cut through people's jugulars."

"Yes ma'am," Stefan said, backing out of the room with his hands in the air in surrender.

She huffed before turning to Klaus and Finn. "Good morning, Finn," She said, her voice full of forced cheerfulness, sitting down on the chair next to Klaus.

He wasn't quite sure what to make of this mood reversal from when they woke up, but opted to hope that it passed.

"Good morning, Caroline. You have practice today–" He started, but Caroline cut him off.

"Yeah. I have practice after school until five, at which point Klaus will drop you off at that block party and then come and pick me up and take me back here," Caroline finished for him.

Finn nodded. "Yes. Now, I hate to ask, but did you do your homework last night?"

The look she gave Finn would have made Klaus laugh if he hadn't been worried that she'd turn it in his direction. She was clearly not having a good morning, which was odd.

Why wasn't she happy? Was she upset with him? No, he had done everything he was supposed to. He'd asked her if she was sure...Made certain that she was comfortable… And she had still wanted to be with him. She gave into him. Perhaps she was confused. Did she think that he was having second thoughts now that they'd slept together? It would be rather silly of her. He'd made it very clear that he wanted to have her, hadn't he? Or perhaps she was having second thoughts.

No, she had initiated it, hadn't she? And she'd liked it (that, he was absolutely sure of).

She must be confused about this new stage of their relationship. He would just reassure her that she was his and that was that, and then everything would go back to the way he wanted it.

He waited until she'd finished her coffee before he grabbed her hand and led her back to their room. "Is everything all right?" He asked, frowning, "You seem..." angry? No. More like, "...irritable."

She gave him what looked like a somewhat forced smile. "I'm fine."

"Really?" He asked, his voice dry, "And telling Stefan that he's a terrible friend and threatening to rip out his throat is your new definition of 'fine'?"

She fidgeted, and he raised an eyebrow. Was she anxious? He lifted his hand to touch her cheek and she flinched. He frowned_. _She was _scared_ of him. Why was she scared of him?

_...I know you'll get tired of me..._

_...you don't have feelings…_

_...Is that what you say to all the girls?..._

"You think I'm going to leave you now," He said quietly, knowing that Katerina had most likely told her of his previous conquests.

She had to know that he had no intention of hurting or leaving her. Hadn't he made it clear enough?

Caroline shrugged. "Well, I mean, so far as I've heard…"

"No. You're different from them," Klaus said firmly.

"Is that what you say to all the girls?" She asked, her voice slightly teasing, but with an underlying tone of concern.

_...Is that what you say to all the girls?..._

"No," He said again, though he was much more serious now, "I want _you_. Here. With me."

_And I won't let you leave me,_ He thought.

She gave him an assessing look, but then kissed him softly, moaning as he immediately curled his fingers into the belt loops of her shorts, holding him against her. He pulled back, smiling slightly at the sight of her puffy lips.

She was magnificent.

She was _his._

"I'll see you this afternoon," He said, dropping his hands from her waist.

She nodded. "You'd better," She said, suddenly back to her cheerful self, his words apparently having reassured her, "You know where to pick me up, right?"

"Yes. I'll be there at five," He said.

She shot him a last huge smile as she sauntered out the door to the front room, and he heard the jingling of keys as she and Stefan left.

He sighed, flopping back down on the bed.

That could have gone better.

**XXX**

She fiddled with her combination lock, yanking it open and shoving her math textbook in–she ended up in Pre-Calc, which was the same level as Brady, except that he was in a different class section–and retrieving her copy of _The Great Gatsby, _before turning around, starting a little when she found that she was chest to chest with Brady.

"Hey," He said, bending down to kiss her cheek.

Were they dating already? She didn't recall having a say in this.

Whatever.

"Hey," She said, smiling at him.

"Where are you headed?"

"English Lit. We're doing Great Gatsby," She said, making a face.

"Cooll. I have Chem, it's in the same direction. Here, I'll carry that for you," He said, plucking her backpack out of her hands without waiting for an answer.

She restrained an offended look and smiled instead. "Thanks."

Could this _get _anymore high school cliche?

They walked together, pausing when she got to the English classroom and letting him drop another kiss on her cheek before he handed her back her bag and she entered, moving to sit next to Stefan, who was already there.

"Sorry about this morning," He said for what must have been the fifth time.

"Not here," She said, glaring at him.

She was mad at Stefan, but she was sick of him apologizing. She was honestly more angry at herself than anything. When she'd woken up that morning pressed up against Klaus she'd immediately started to doubt herself. What if he didn't want her anymore after she'd slept with him?

So, she shut herself in the shower for awhile to calm down, and was feeling a little better before she heard Stefan talk about the bet, which just made her feel anxious again. Klaus always seemed to know how to calm her down, though. Which was weird, since he seemed to genuinely not understand the way that feelings worked.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the clicking of heels on the tiled classroom floor, which stopped in front of her desk. She looked up to see Hayley looming over her.

"You know we have practice today, right?"

"Yep. After school in the gym."

"Good. Look," She said uncomfortably, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, "I'm sorry about the other day. I was really bitchy."  
"It's fine," Caroline said, smiling at the other girl, "Really."

"Cool. I'll see you at three," Hayley said.

She waited until Hayley was gone and shot a "what the fuck" look at Stefan, who shrugged.

**XXX**

He pulled up into the lot and parked. It was 4:45, and he'd just dropped off Stefan and his brother at the block party, and now had to wait for Caroline. It was only ten minutes before she walked out, already giggling with the group of girls about something or other, and he smiled.

His Caroline could charm anyone.

Her hair was put up with a hair ribbon, revealing her slender neck, and she was wearing a blue t-shirt that clung to her curves and the tight gym shorts that she'd been wearing the day he'd taught her how to throw knives. She went out in public like that? Let others see her like that? He would like nothing better than to tear off her shorts and press her against the car and bury himself in her until she screamed, to remind her who's she was.

He got out of the car and walked over, suppressing a smirk at the looks the teenage girls were shooting him when they realized he was heading in their direction. Resisting the urge to touch her–Brady would find out, and the whole thing would be shot–he stopped in front of her.

"Ready to leave?"

"Yeah."

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" A tall brunette asked Caroline, eyeing him like he was her next meal.

Poor girl.

"Sure," Caroline said cheerfully, "This is Nik. He's a family friend. Nik, this is Hayley. She's the cheer captain here, and this is Amelia, Zoe, and Davina."

The girls all giggled behind her, and he grinned as he saw the tell-tale face that Caroline made when she was trying desperately not to roll her eyes.

"Pleasure to meet you," He said politely.

"You too," Hayley said sweetly, before turning to Caroline, "Actually. I forgot, can I talk to you for a sec?"

The girls giggled again. This time Caroline did allow herself a quick eyeroll.

"Yeah, sure."

Both girls looked at him expectantly. "I'll go wait in the car for you," He said.

It was almost painful for him to watch Caroline talk to the girl–Hayley–without knowing what they were saying. She laughed and then wrinkled her nose and shook her head at something, before bidding the other girls goodbye and sliding into the passenger seat, throwing her backpack in the backseat.

"What was that about?" He asked.

Caroline shrugged. "She thinks you're hot. Well, actually, they all do, but Hayley has dibs, apparently."

"Dibs?"

"Yeah. Like, she has a chance to ask you before the rest of them do."

"All right," He said, starting the car and twisting around in his seat so that he could pull out.

As he moved back into his seat he caught a glance of Caroline's raised eyebrow.

He smirked and turned out of the lot, heading back to their apartment. "What did you say back? Do you think I'm 'hot'?"

"I made a gag face and said that you were like an overprotective older brother, but that she was welcome to try."

"Older brother?" He asked, his voice choking over the words.

"Well I couldn't exactly tell her that you were my boyfriend and to keep her dirty paws off you, could I?"

"I suppose not."

They were silent for a moment before the question that he had been holding back burst out. "Do you practice in that?"

"Um. Obviously."

"And people see you in it?"

"Obviously."

"Don't you have a uniform?"

_That covers more skin?_

"I only wear that on game days, and since football season is over and basketball season hasn't started yet, I don't need it. Why? Got a cheerleader fetish?" She asked teasingly.

No. He had a Caroline fetish. Anything she wore he was perfectly happy to tear off of her.

She seemed to take his silence as an affirmative. "Well, either way I don't have it yet, and I don't know if we'll even be here long enough for me to need it. We ordered it two days ago, so it should be here by the middle of next week at the latest."

"So people watch you practice in what you're wearing right now?"

That earned him an exasperated glare. "Yes. As I said, I practice in this and people see me in it. And as I said the other day, don't worry about it. You're the only one that I want to touch me."

Strangely enough, he realized that he wasn't at all jealous. She was his now. She'd practically admitted it. There was no reason to be.

He pulled into one of the spaces near the apartment building and she hopped out, opening the backseat door so that she could grab her backpack, giving him a few moments to admire her perfect ass.

**XXX**

Caroline straightened up and turned around, smirking when she realized where his eyes had been and closing the door behind her. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and followed him up to their floor, perfectly content to watch him walk up the stairs in front of her.

He unlocked the door and held it open for her, and made sure that it was locked behind them before he kissed her, one hand already tangled in her hair and the other resting on her ass. She responded immediately, opening her mouth to allow him to stroke her tongue with his before he pulled away. His eyes were darkened with lust and she knew that her breaths were coming out in short pants, but she was tired from practice. They'd done a lot of lifts that day.

And, though she didn't even want to think about it, she had homework.

"Are you hungry?" He asked, his hands resting on her hips now, his eyes still dark.

She felt her face heating up, and gave him a weird look.

"It's almost six," He elaborated.

"Oh. You meant for food," She said, feeling a bit silly.

A smirk made its way onto his face, and she huffed. "Yeah. I'm a little hungry. You?"

He pulled her closer, his thumbs sneaking their way under the hem of her shorts, stroking the backs of her thighs, resting his nose against hers, his breath hot on her mouth, and she shivered, enjoying the way it felt to be pressed against him. "I could eat," He said, his voice husky.

"Yeah?"

He nodded seriously before capturing her lips with his.

"I have homework," She said as soon as he pulled back to kiss her neck.

"And?" He mumbled into her skin, causing her to shiver.

"And it's due tomorrow."

"What do you have to do?"

She took a sharp breath, tilting her head even farther to the side. "Pre-Calc and Spanish," She said, her last word turning into a sigh.

"Well, you're in luck," He said in-between kisses, "I'll do your Spanish homework while you do maths, all right?"

"That's che-cheating," She insisted through her gasps as he bit her gently.

He pulled away and gave her an incredulous look. "Caroline, you're twenty years old. You graduated high school years ago. Don't be ridiculous."

He had a point.

"All right. You'll probably be done before I am, though."

"Most likely."

Caroline pulled away and unzipped her backpack, pulling out her pencil case and the red folder labeled "Spanish." She handed him the worksheet and then pulled out a notebook and her textbook for math, letting it fall on the kitchen table with a thunk. Klaus sat next to her, his eyes scanning the papers.

"What are you in, first grade Spanish?"

Caroline glared at him. "Spanish II, actually."

"So you just have to conjugate these verbs from past to present and then use them in a sentence using adjectives from this box over here? That's it?"

She just huffed and handed him a pencil.

They worked in silence for about five minutes, Klaus's hand skating across the pages while she wanted to bang her head against the wall. She thought-somewhat immaturely, she knew-that learning about imaginary numbers was completely pointless for her. She already knew that she'd never have to use it in life. She remembered people in high school complaining about that very thing, but she'd always thought it was important to have knowledge, just in case.

Now that she had a set and unchangeable life-path, though, she was firmly on their side.

She was on the third problem when Klaus shoved the worksheet back to her, and she looked down at it. "I can't turn this in."

"Why?"

"Because your handwriting borders on calligraphy. Mine is printed neatly."

He shrugged. "Erase it and rewrite it, then."

"That completely defeats the purpose."

He tore out a paper from her notebook. "Write all the digits and the letter i."

She did so, and he pulled it towards him and snatched her math textbook away from her.

"Hey!"

"What?"

"Do you even know pre-calc? That doesn't seem like the sort of thing that you cover in 'How To Shank People Without Breaking a Nail' class."

He gave her an offended look and pulled out his phone, snapping pictures of the problems and her handwriting. "What are you doing?"

He typed something on his phone and then put it away. "Donovan will send it back later. Re-write that worksheet. I'll make dinner."

"You can cook?"

He shrugged. "I am capable of making pasta and putting store-bought spaghetti sauce in the microwave."

Good enough.

She worked in silence while he cooked, and by the time it was ready she had copied her homework over.

After they ate, she offered to rinse the dishes since he'd cooked, and then realized how grimy she felt in her workout clothes.

"I'm going to take a shower,"She said.

Klaus's head snapped up to look at her, and she smiled at him before walking to their bedroom to grab some pajamas and then to the bathroom, turning the shower on.

She stripped quickly, sighing as she stepped under the hot spray, which immediately began to soothe her sore muscles. She'd left the door slightly open, knowing that Klaus would join her, and sure enough, within a minute she heard the door shut firmly and some rustling of clothes hitting the floor before the shower curtain was pulled aside.

His mouth met hers in a clash of tongue, lips, and teeth, the feeling of her bare back pressing against the cold tile wall sent goosebumps across her arms and shoulders, and she could feeling his hands tracing the curve of her hips and the backs of her thighs–she had by now determined that Klaus was most _definitely _a leg person–before he started dropping kisses on her neck and then trailed his lips down her collarbone to her breasts, taking one of her nipples in his mouth and teasing it lightly with his tongue and teeth.

She moaned, arching her back away from the wall as his hands kept her steady while he pleasured her, and she moaned as he bit her more roughly, her fingers burying themselves in his hair.

His lips continued their path down her stomach to drop kisses on her lower abdomen before trailing down to her thighs. "Spread your legs for me, love."

She did, letting him brace her against the tile wall with his hand against her thigh, the other running a finger between her legs, making her moan, her legs instinctively spreading a bit more.

He ghosted a finger over her entrance, causing a moan to escape her, before plunging a finger into her heat, adding another soon after. She rocked against his fingers, thankful that he could keep her from toppling down, since she wasn't quite sure how long her legs would hold her.

Her eyes were closed, and though she was gripping the shower bar attached to the wall for balance, the unexpected addition of his tongue in rhythm with his fingers stroking over her clit nearly made her fall.

"Klaus," She gasped out, continuing to ride his fingers as they thrust in and out of her and his tongue teased her clit and dropped occasional kisses and bites on her inner thighs.

"Yes, love?"

"Please."  
She could feel his mouth stretch into a smile as he took his fingers away, causing her to moan at the loss of friction, before his mouth replaced them. Her fingers immediately tangled in his curls, and she balanced herself against the shower bar, trying not to grind her pussy into his lips as he pleasured her.

He seemed to have no such reservations, however, and his hands found her ass and pulled her down upon his lips so that he could fuck her with his tongue, his languid strokes making her knees buckle.

She looked down at him and she could see that he was hard for her.

Just the visual of Klaus–who was possibly the most dangerous man on earth–on his knees in front of her, his cock hard, feasting on her juices, his fingernails digging into the pliant skin of her hips, moaning at the taste of her tipped her over the edge, and she came on his tongue with a loud, breathy moan, abandoning her determination to hold herself back as she ground her pussy against his face, his tongue lapping up her juices.

She was breathing hard when he withdrew, her breasts heaving as water droplets made trails down her abdomen.

"That was–"

He silenced her words with a kiss, grabbing her body wash from the shelf at the end of the tub and squeezing some into his hand, gesturing for her to turn around. She did, and he began to massage the bubbles onto her skin, his hard cock resting in the cleft of her ass as he ran his palms down her front, tweaking her nipples and leaving trails of pomegranate-scented bubbles in their wake.

She arched into him, wiggling her ass against him purposefully to make him groan, and smiling when he did so. He removed his hands from her and she rinsed off, making sure to run her hands down her body as she did so, his eyes darkening at the sight.

She squeezed the water out of her hair and pulled the curtain aside, stepping out of the tub and grabbing a towel to dry her hair with.

He was out just behind her, and she turned to him, dropping the towel on the floor and pressing her lips against his, her delicate hand wrapping around his hard length.

He braced himself against the bathroom counter and she sank to her knees, cushioning them on the fluffy bath mat on the floor, and swirled her tongue around the head of his cock.

He groaned, his hands immediately tangling in her hair, tugging lightly, and she found that she didn't mind. She pulled him deep into her mouth, sucking hard, her cheeks hollowing, looking up at him through her eyelashes.

His body was tense, his jaw clenched, and she could tell that he was trying not to thrust into her mouth. She sucked harder, her lips traveling up and down his shaft as one of her hands stroked his balls, and the other was wrapped around the base of it, stroking him in time with her mouth as she pleasured him.

She pulled back slightly, her hands never stopping their movements, to swirl her tongue around the head of his cock before licking the underside of it, her tongue making a wet path from its base to the head.

"Fuck, Caroline…"

She suppressed a smile as she took him in to her mouth again, this time moving her lips as far down the shaft as they could go. The grasp of his fingers in her wet curls tightened, and she moaned around his cock, making him swear again.

The jerks of his hips were becoming more erratic, and her hand moved faster. He mumbled a warning and came in her mouth mere seconds later. She swallowed, picking herself up from the floor and pressing herself against him to kiss him quickly before picking up her towel and wrapping it back around herself, reaching up to the cupboard to grab him one as well.

She dried herself off and pulled on her tiny pajama shirts and tight cotton camisole before hanging up her towel and flopping down on their bed. He followed her into their bedroom, still with only the towel wrapped around him, and then tossed it in the corner before climbing on top of her on the bed and settling between her legs, fusing his mouth to hers.

**XXX**

Katerina hummed to herself as she walked through the house Elijah shared with Matt and Kol to the living room. Stefan had texted her that morning to assure her that she had won the bet (with the addition of vomit-emoji). Her lips curled into a smirk thinking about it.

She plopped down on the sofa next to Elijah, snuggling into him. His eyes didn't move from the novel he was reading for even a second, but she felt him squeeze her waist lightly, as though reassuring her that he was there for her.

She waited for a few minutes, knowing that he just wanted to finish the chapter before they talked, and sure enough the book was soon closed on the coffee table with a leather bookmark sticking out of the top of the pages.

"I have another mission tomorrow."

He nodded. "I assumed as much."

"It's only a few days. I'll be back before you know it."

"I know, Katerina."

She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Thank you for the last few days. You've been so good to me."

"I will always be good to you, Katerina."

"I love you," She said quietly, letting her eyes flutter shut.

"And I, you."

They sat in a comfortable silence for a minute or two before Elijah spoke. "Are you happy living with Caroline?"

Katerina frowned. "Yeah. Why?"

"For the past few weeks, I have been thinking of requesting a different space. I no longer wish to share a house with my brother and Matthew."

Katerina tried to keep a huge smile from stretching across her face.

"Elijah Mikaelson, are you trying to ask me to move in with you?"

He shifted slightly next to her, a sure sign that he was nervous. "Yes. I suppose I am."

"Then I would love to," She said, kissing him quickly before withdrawing, "We'll talk to Jenna tomorrow before I leave. Let me just call Mason to tell him that I might be a bit late."

She practically skipped over to her jacket to grab her cell phone.

Her life was looking up.

* * *

**January 28th, 2013**

"Are burgers okay with you?" Brady asked as he pulled away from Caroline's apartment building.

"Yeah. That sounds great," Caroline said.

She hadn't had a good cheeseburger in at least a year. The Grill, ironically, made not-so-awesome burgers. She usually got the club sandwich there.

"How's track going?" She asked as they drove to the other side of town.

"It's going really well. Your brother has an insane amount of stamina. I don't think I've ever seen anyone run that far and not go out of breath. It's like he's super-human."

_Or an assassin that has to keep in very good shape, but sure._

"Yeah. Stu's always been into athletics."

"What about you?"

"Well, I cheered at my last high school, and I've been doing dance and gymnastics since I was a kid–although I had to stop pursuing gymnastics seriously because I got too tall for it–but I've never played soccer or softball or anything."

"Never played at all? Or never played on a team?"

"Never played on a team. We have Phys Ed on the east coast, you know."

He smiled. "Yeah, that's true."

They were quiet for a minute before he suddenly smiled. "Do you have your heart set on a movie? Or are you okay with changing the plan?"

"I'm okay with it," She said smiling through her internal chant of _IhatesurprisesIhatesurprises._

"Great! We can get food later, if that's okay. Unless you're really hungry?"

His words made her mind wander to Klaus's lips on hers, his hands running down her body, his hot breath on her ear… But she pulled herself back to the present and shook her head.

"No. I can wait."

He immediately flipped his turn signal and made a U-turn to drive a few blocks to the local park, pulling into a space on the street near the chain linked fence. He got out and motioned for her to do the same.

He grabbed her hand and led her to the pavement where there was a lone basketball hoop near the grass. "I'll be right back," He said, before leaving for a minute and returning with a basketball.

She glanced at it and he smirked. "There's a sport equipment shed, and I know the key-code. Do you want to play?"

She raised her eyebrows, slightly impressed with his date idea, before letting a genuine smile overtake her face, glad that she'd decided on flat-soled boots and jeans. "Yeah."

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," He said with a smirk, immediately passing the ball to her.

"Going easy on me takes all the fun out of it, though," She said, laughing as she started dribbling the ball towards the hoop.

She jumped, the ball sailing out of her hands into the hoop. He looked at her in surprise and she shrugged. "I'm Stu's sister," She said, a shameless grin on her face.

_And Alaric thought that basketball improved hand-eye coordination._

He gave her an incredulous look. "Pool, cheering, gymnastics, dancing, basketball… Is there anything you can't do?"

"Lose," She said grinning.

He laughed. "We'll see about that."

**XXX**

They were both breathing hard when they'd finished their game, both from the movement and the laughter. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah," She said, smiling and grabbing his hand, "Let's go."

They walked to the shed to put back the basketball, and then to his car, hands linked the entire time.

She couldn't help but think that if she was in high school, this relationship would have been perfect for her.

Brady was nice and funny, and every time he looked at her, she felt a huge tug of guilt in her stomach for leading him on. She still smiled and still let him hold her hand, and even put his arm around her once they'd gotten out of the car and were walking to a local diner.

She spent half the time savoring the burger she'd gotten. He made playfully disgusted face when she explained that the grill "where she used to live" didn't put enough mustard. It was nearing eight o'clock when they walked back to his car–it had taken a good fifteen minutes to get Caroline to give in and let him pay the whole bill–and he stopped a few blocks away from her apartment. When she turned to him to ask why, his lips were on hers.

He kissed her softly, his tongue running gently over her bottom lip, and she couldn't help missing Klaus's hard, possessive kisses. His rough bites and the indents of nails scratching on her hips.

She sighed though, letting her mouth open for him. The faithful teenage girlfriend.

It was when his hands snuck under her top that she drew the line. Trapping his wrists, mindful not to squeeze too hard. "Stop."

He nodded. "Sorry," He said sheepishly, actually looking it, running a hand through his short hair.

"It's okay."

There was an awkward silence for a moment before he broke it. "Are you liking it here?"

"Living here, you mean?"

He nodded. She shrugged.

"Yeah. It's nice. There's a lot more to do."

"Is Hayley still giving you a hard time?"

Caroline laughed. "No, not at all."

"Good. I hope you don't mind, but I kinda told her to lay off a little bit."

She nearly scoffed. That was so...invasive. It was like he thought that she couldn't fight her own battles. She realized that Klaus had done the same thing for her before, but for some reason she was more comfortable with it.

Klaus knew she could take care of herself, but wanted to keep her safe. Brady just seemed to think that she was a damsel in distress.

"You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to. She's going to have to start getting along with you eventually. We spend a lot of time together, and now you'll be with us, too."

He seemed to make a lot of assumptions, but since they were in line with their plans, she decided not to point it out.

"Yeah. I guess."

A shadow of confusion came across his face, but he seemed to suppress it. "Do you want to hang out with us tomorrow?"

Caroline grimaced. "I have a test in Pre-Calc on Wednesday. I need to study, I'm kind of behind."

It was true. Matt had been doing the majority of her work for her, and she'd made him promise to have a Skype study session that night.

"With Gordon?"

"Yeah."

"I'm in his class, too. The other period."

_I know._

"Really?" She asked, faking surprise, "So you have a test as well?"

He nodded. "Maybe we could study together."

She wanted to groan. The last thing she wanted was to "study" with him, but she realized that this was an excellent opportunity to bug his house. "Sure. Where should we meet?"

"You could come over to my house after school, if you want."

"Sure."

"Great," He said, smiling and starting the car to take her back to the apartment.

When they pulled up, she gave him a huge, genuine smile. "I had a lot of fun tonight."

"Yeah, me too, especially since I got to see you experience losing for the first time."

She laughed. "I demand a rematch."

"I think I can arrange that."

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, pretending to be mindful of her "dad" being home, and got out of the car, realizing that he wasn't going to walk her to the door.

"Good night."

"Good night, Claire."

She was still smiling when she came through the apartment door, and it dropped as soon as she saw Klaus, who had clearly been waiting for her.

"I'm guessing the date went well then," He said.

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm going over to his house tomorrow to study for the Pre-Calc test. I need to call Matt to see if he has time to give me a crash course tonight."

"Study?" Klaus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hopefully," She mumbled, fully realizing what he was implying, "It'll be a good opportunity to bug the house though, I think."

He nodded.

"Where are Finn and Stefan?" She asked, dropping her purse on the coffee table next to his empty dinner plate, extra pencils, and half-full tea mug.

"Grocery shopping and staking out the Amell's mansion, respectively."

"All right. I'll be right back."

"Do you need to brush your teeth?" He asked dryly.

"Yeah."

She could see a shadow of anger cross his face, but shrugged helplessly at him. "Sorry."

He swung his legs off of the couch and dropped his sketchpad on the coffee table next to her purse, grabbing her hand. She squeaked as he pulled her down so that she was straddling him.

"Don't be," He said, before attacking her lips with one of those harsh, biting kisses she had missed earlier.

He parted from her, nuzzling her ear, careful not to leave marks on her neck. "What happened to making me disinfect my mouth," She said teasingly, though she was slightly breathless from how his hands were cupping her breasts under her blouse.

"Doesn't matter," He said, pinching her nipples, making her arch her back and moan.

He bit her ear harshly, and her hips rolled against his already hard cock, straining against his jeans. He pulled her blouse over her head and unhooked her bra, waiting for her to shrug it off before latching his mouth onto one of her nipples and then the other.

Her fingers were buried in his curls, holding him to her. She was so focused on how passionate he was, how he could turn her on this much with just the roll of his hips against hers, and the feeling of his lips and tongue leaving wet trails on her breasts, that she almost missed it, and later she thought she'd imagined the declaration that he'd mumbled against her breast while he made her moan his name without even a single touch to her wet center.

"_Mine."_

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading! The outfits for this chapter are on polyvore (as usual) and there's a link on my tumblr as well.  
****There have been some very good guesses about the mole. I shall give you another hint: The mole is not a Salvatore brother. Any more guesses?  
Did you like the semi-fluff? This is about as fluffy as Dark!Klaus gets, really, so I hope you did :P  
How was the smut?  
****Please review. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't like, as it's the only way I'll get better :)  
****Hugs!  
-Angie**


	17. Breaking the Rules

**A/N: Hey, everyone! Thank you so much to the people that have been reviewing! It makes me so happy to know that so many of you enjoy this story :) ****I generally try to respond to reviews, especially if they have questions, but since there are some guest reviewer questions I thought I'd put a quick answer here.  
****There is a flashback in this chapter regarding a plot point that a few people have been asking about for awhile, and Klaus will be curious about it. The consequence of his curiosity will come out in the next few chapters, I'm sure. I would say one or two, but somehow my writing seems to stretch out over a long period of time (this chapter and last chapter were both supposed to fit in one), so I don't want to be as specific. Stefan and Caroline have made up, yes. :) More Dark!Klaus should be coming up soon, don't worry.  
Shameless plug: My other story, Circuit Break, is my new baby after Travelers, and you should all go start reading it :D **  
**I'm currently writing Chapter Two of Linked, so it'll be out sooner rather than later.  
Thank you to justanotherfiveminutes for beta-ing. You are awesome :D  
This update broke the 100k words mark, so yay!**

**Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**January 29th, 2013**

It had taken Klaus less than two weeks to get used to Caroline sleeping in his bed, and he was such a light sleeper that he would now wake up whenever she left. Usually he'd get up early enough that it wasn't a problem, but she had woken him up a few times during the night from tossing and turning, and he was starting to get concerned. As far as he knew, Caroline didn't normally have trouble sleeping.

He glanced at the clock to see that it was only four-thirty in the morning. Resigned to the fact that he most likely wouldn't fall back asleep, he rolled out of bed to follow the sounds of clinking dishware in the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Klaus asked sharply when he walked in to see Caroline clutching a glass pitcher full of water that she had clearly been about to put in the microwave.

She was balanced on her toes to reach the microwave door, and clearly hadn't thought anyone would be up, as she hadn't bothered throwing on her bathrobe. The way she was stretched emphasized her breasts straining against the tank top clinging to her skin, the fabric of which rode up a little to show a strip of the creamy skin of her stomach, her tiny pajama shorts highlighting her long legs, her mussed blonde hair falling around her face in tangled curls.

"Um...Making tea?" She half-said-half-asked, "My throat kind of hurts."

"Making...tea?" He said slowly, eyes still half-glued to her legs before he caught her unimpressed glare and instead tried to figure out why on earth she thought that putting water in a microwave was even close to acceptable.

"What's your problem?"

"No one in their right mind would think that tea from microwaved water was drinkable."

"Well, this one time, when you were sick, you told me I made good tea. And _that _came from the microwave."

He blanched, trying to recall this. "I must have been delirious."

She nodded in agreement, closed the microwave door and pressed a button before turning back to give him an amused shake of her head.

He grinned at her and perched himself on the kitchen counter, watching her hum to herself as she got a teabag out of the box in the cabinet, along with some honey, which she carefully squeezed into a mug.

"Why are you putting honey in that?"

She gave him an exasperated look. "Because I want it."

"_Why?_"

"Is this like, a British-people-thing? Are you really that anal about how _other people _make tea?"

"Apologies," He mumbled.

If she wanted to drink that, who was he to stop her? As long as she didn't try to feed it to _him_… The microwave beeped and she poured the hot water over the bag before settling down at the kitchen table a few feet away.

"Your throat hurts?"

"Yeah. I guess I was kind of due. I haven't been sick yet this winter, and I always am at some point."

"Maybe you should stay home from school today."

She snorted and took a sip. "No, I need to bug Brady's house today, remember?"

He pressed his lips together. "Maybe you'll get him sick and then he'll stay home from school."

She laughed.

"Did you study maths last night?"

"Yeah. I think I'm doing well enough to pass."

"You do know that your marks don't particularly matter?"

"I need a 3.5 GPA to stay on the cheerleading team."

"Oh."

She nodded sleepily, taking another sip of her tea. "Is there anything I can do for you?" He asked hesitantly.

He didn't like seeing her uncomfortable, and she certainly looked it now.

She shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'll just drink this and then go back to bed. Sorry, I guess I woke you up, didn't I?"

"It's all right, love. It's not as if I really have anything to do today."

"What do you do while we're at school, anyway?"

He smiled slightly. He'd been sitting outside the Amell mansion every day trying to find holes in their security, or ways to get in. Finn usually stayed close to his location, but kept an ear out for trouble. Caroline and Stefan were required to keep their microphones on whenever out of sight, so he assumed that Finn was getting an excellent review on high school maths and chemistry. He told Caroline as much and she made a face. "Wow, that sounds awful."

"Aren't you glad you're not a handler anymore, love?" He teased, while inwardly wishing that she still was.

He still wasn't comfortable with her on the field, though she'd definitely gotten to the point where she could hold her own without assistance.

She laughed. "I guess so."

She drained the last of her tea and yawned. "I'm gonna go back to bed."

"All right, love."  
She frowned. "You aren't coming?"

"Aren't you going to sleep?"

"Yeah. It's five in the morning. You should sleep too."

"There's no point. I won't be able to get back to sleep," He said, shrugging.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up that much?" She asked, wincing.

He nodded and took the mug out of her hands, setting it near the sink and kissing her softly. "It's all right, love. I'll just get some sketching done," He said pulling away to let her go and-_Shit._

"Caroline..." He said slowly.

"What?"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the mirror in their bedroom, moving her hair aside.

She swore, leaning closer to the mirror. There was a large red mark on the area where her neck met her shoulder blade.

She whirled around to face him, her hands on her hips. "Seriously?"

"I was careful, I don't know how it happened," He insisted, putting his hands up in surrender.

She swore again, pushing past him to sift through her closet before turning around.

"Klaus, I need you to go to the store for me and buy me a cashmere scarf."

"Pardon?"

She repeated her orders.

"Why?"

"Because I'm allergic," She said simply, pulling out the small cosmetics mirror she carried in her purse so that she could inspect the mark more closely.

"So you want to give yourself an allergic reaction to cover it? How do you know that will work?"

Caroline bit her lip, suddenly looking a bit uncomfortable, before she quickly schooled her face back to an indignant glare.

"I just do, okay? Anyway, you have until I leave for school, which is around seven. Ready, set, go."

He decided to ignore her behavior for the moment. "Where exactly am I supposed to get a cashmere scarf at five in the morning, Caroline?"

She glared at him. "This was your fault, figure it out. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get some sleep before I spend half of tomorrow morning scratching my neck to shreds."

He was halfway out their bedroom door when Caroline told him to wait and there was some shifting behind him as she hurried to the closet, pulling out a top. "Make sure it matches this," She ordered, thrusting the blouse into his hands.

And with that, she threw herself on the bed rather dramatically, pulling the covers over her head.

He sighed and went out to the living room, pulling out his phone.

He had many skills that were rarely useful, including the ability to murder someone swiftly and silently using only a toothbrush, reading Aramaic, which was a completely dead language, and knowing the entire dance to that grating club song by Britney Spears about addiction (don't ask how that happened).

His skillset did _not_ include emergency shopping expeditions that involved matching clothes.

He dialed a number and grabbed the car keys, walking out the door.

"Olivia, love, you're still at the San Jose location, correct?...Yes, I am very aware of what time it is...my apologies, now would you answer my question?...Excellent. I need a favor."

* * *

_**June 12th, 2008**_

"_Really? You can't hide a fucking hickey for a day?"_

"_Look, I'm sorry, okay? It wasn't my fault," Caroline insisted, her wedge sandals slapping harshly against the pavement because she was walking so quickly to keep up with Damon's long strides._

_He shot her a filthy look and she stopped, putting her hands on her hips. "What's the big deal anyway? She seemed fine with it."_

"_It doesn't matter if your Mom is fine with it. It matters if I'm fine with it, and I'm not."_

"_Why?" Caroline asked, honestly more confused than angry, "Why is it such a huge secret? Are you like, ashamed of me, or something?"_

_He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "No. I'm not ashamed of you. You know that your mom was really good friends with my parents, and so I know her, and it's weird for me to know that she knows that we're together. It's not you. I'm sorry I went off on you like that."_

"_It's okay," Caroline said quietly._

"_Let's get you home. It's bad enough that your mom knows what's going on, I don't want her to think that I'm keeping you out late."_

_Caroline huffed. "I'm sixteen, not fourteen. You aren't 'keeping me out late'. I'm choosing to be out late with you."_

_She slid into the passenger seat and laid her head against her headrest. They drove in tense silence, and she was relieved when they pulled up in front of her house._

"_Look. I didn't mean to yell at you, but I need you to cover it up better next time."_

"_All right."_

_He unlocked the car door so that she could get out and waited until she was through the front door before leaving. He always wanted to make sure that she got home safe, he said, so he did care about her, she rationalized._

_She padded up the stairs to her bedroom and fished around her closet for her extended make-up kit, where she kept everything that she didn't use on a daily basis, and stopped short, her eye catching a scarf a family friend had bought her for Christmas the year before. _

_She'd never worn it because it made her neck red and itchy, but she hadn't had the heart to throw it away (it really was a beautiful color). She wrapped it around her neck experimentally, and inspected herself in the mirror._

_It would work._

* * *

**January 29th, 2013**

Caroline turned over in bed for what felt like the thousandth time. If she had been having trouble sleeping before, she definitely was now. That day had been the worst of all of them, and they had broken up less than a month later.

Damon hadn't been physically abusive, and he didn't call her names, but he didn't treat her well either. She'd broken up with him, after quite a bit of encouragement from Stefan (who, she suspected now, had also threatened Damon), and that had been the end of it, as far as the brothers were concerned. She now had figured out that she was simply a distraction from Elena, who apparently hadn't wanted to give him even the time of day up until about six months later.

She never did tell Stefan that she still was uncomfortable with Damon, she doubted Stefan knew any more about it than what he'd seen that day, and she didn't intend to. Damon was Stefan's brother, and even though she knew that Stefan would probably want to know, she didn't want to get in the middle of it. She also didn't want to tell Klaus about it, because she didn't want to murder Stefan's brother and Elena's fiancee by proxy.

He was a dick, but he didn't deserve to die.

When she and Stefan had grown up together, Damon had been a relatively good older brother. He'd loved Stefan, and had been quite nice to her. That summer had been a huge shock for her. Stefan had been pretty absent from her life and Damon had taken advantage of her. When she had arrived in Mystic Falls, she saw signs of the young Damon again, and she suspected that Elena brought his good qualities out, but that didn't mean she had to forgive him for his behavior, and she never would.

She was fine with being acquaintances, and she wasn't scared of him, but she still would prefer to avoid him if it was possible.

She sighed, resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to get back to sleep at this point and slipped out of bed, padding back to the kitchen to get more tea and some ibuprofen.

She had an hour before she would normally wake up and decided to take a shower and start covering up the mark, just in case Klaus couldn't find a cashmere scarf in time.

In retrospect, it had been rather harsh of her, but he shouldn't have marked her.

She showered quickly and toweled off her hair, putting it up with a clip before getting out her make-up and putting it on her dresser, prepared to begin.

Her phone vibrated on the side table and she walked to pick it up.

Klaus had sent a picture of an orange scarf next to the top she'd given him and added a question mark.

_How did you manage that?_

He replied almost immediately.

_We have a location about two hours away, I had another agent bring one and meet me halfway. Is this a satisfactory match?_

_Yes._

_Excellent. I shall be back before you leave._

_Good._

Well, that took care of that problem, at least.

**XXX**

Caroline huffed as she itched her neck again. She hadn't been kidding, this scarf was incredibly uncomfortable. They were only one period into the day and she already wanted to rip the thing off and throw it in a fire.

Brady met her at her locker after class and she bit out a greeting to him before thrusting the scarf back into her locker.

"Everything okay?" He asked slowly.

She sighed. "Yeah. Sorry. This scarf...I think I might be allergic."

He immediately went to move her hair back and she tried not to flinch as he looked at her neck and winced.

"That looks painful."

"More like itchy."

"I can walk you to the nurse if you want."

She shook her head. "No, it's fine, I'll live. Am I still coming over later today?"

"Yeah. Hayley and some other friends will be there, I hope you don't mind. She kind of invited herself along when she heard…" He said, trailing off.

"It's fine," Caroline said quickly, hoping that she didn't sound too relieved, "Can I ask Stu to come? Do you mind?"

"No, that's cool," He said, smiling at her and put an arm around her shoulders, leading her to her chemistry class.

**XXX**

"I'm not going to fit into my dress," Elena said through her hiccups, tears rolling down her face, "I spent months planning this and I have to re-do everything."

Bonnie awkwardly rubbed her friend's back as Elena sobbed, trying to figure out why Elena thought she had to re-do the entire wedding when the only problem was that she'd have to either pick a new dress or get the dress she had taken out slightly. She wasn't about to ask though. She, Kol, and Damon had all been especially careful around Elena, not because she was irritable or angry, but because there seemed to be no words that weren't a possible trigger for Tsunami Elena.

Yes, Damon did come up with that.

No, Elena had no idea.

Bonnie did feel, however, that at least this time one of her concerns were legitimate. Not being able to fit into your wedding dress was different than bursting into tears while babysitting Katya and Dmitri because she couldn't deal with Nemo being lost, even though she knew perfectly well that he was found at the end of the movie.

"Let me know what I can do to help," Bonnie said, trying to sound supportive.

"There's nothing you can do," Elena wailed.

And weirdly, Elena was right about that. Weddings in the organization were symbolic. There were no marriage licenses to be filed, and since most people didn't know anyone outside of the organization, there really wasn't a need for invitations or a gift registry. Most couples had everyone on-base gather for a dinner in one of the larger rooms in the Caves, and each made a small speech to their partner before they gifted each other with new Traveler rings to symbolize that they "found" their partner.

Elena had always wanted to have a "real" wedding though, and she was trying to get as close to that goal as possible. One of the requirements was a white wedding dress, rather than the traditional black knee-length cocktail dress with the Travelers logo over her heart.

She had been searching for the perfect dress and had finally found it some months earlier, but the wedding dress she'd wanted had been tight through her waist before flaring out elegantly at her hips, and Elena didn't like that style for the way her body was changing.

In Bonnie's opinion, it was all very unnecessary and frilly, but she supposed that weddings outside the organization were much bigger ordeals, and she also knew that Kol would want one eventually.

If she and Kol stayed together, obviously.

Bonnie sighed quietly, pulling Elena's laptop towards her and starting to look through possible dress ideas, trying to redirect Elena from her crying fit while contemplating how her life would be a few years down the road.

Elena and Damon were getting married on March 21st, and most of the other couples their age in the organization were also well on their way down that path, the only exception really being Caroline and Klaus, though that was only because they hadn't been together for long.

Then again, Bonnie and Kol hadn't been together for long at all, really.

She felt like a sappy romantic, but when she thought back to Kol's speech to her on her porch, she always smiled, because she understood.

He was the one for her. She just _knew_. And, okay, so she really didn't believe in "the one," but she couldn't help but feel like Kol was right, and they had been meant for each other all along. "That one," She heard Elena say, and Bonnie paused in her flipping through wedding dress pinterest boards to look at the gown Elena had pointed out.

It was perfect.

**XXX**

Caroline honestly was about ready to hit herself over the head with her textbook. She didn't remember any of this. No one used pre-calculus in International Relations. Brady's friend Mike had somehow been convinced to basically reteach all of the last semester's material in one night, and so she, Hayley, Amelia, Brady, and Stefan were all sitting on Brady's bedroom floor watching Mike write things on a pad of graph paper.

"-so then two times sin of y-squared-"

"I'll be right back," Caroline whispered to Brady, who nodded absentmindedly, his eyes glued to the graph Mike was drawing.

Caroline caught Stefan's eye, and he gave her an infinitesimal nod to show that he understood that she was going to bug the house.

Brady's parents apparently wouldn't be home for awhile. Stefan had asked so that it wouldn't seem like Caroline was offering to have sex while his parents weren't home, which she appreciated. She pulled out her earpiece from her bra and set it into place, hitting the button to let Finn know she was ready for instruction.

"_You want to get the front room, kitchen, and master bedroom. If they have a basement or attic, that too," _Finn said, his voice quiet.

"_Got it."_

She pulled out the bag ofthe tiny pin cameras and set off to the master bedroom first, figuring that that would be the most compromising position she could be caught in, and therefore best to do first.

She walked in and set the microphone on the bottom of the end table, and the camera on the underside of a picture frame. The kitchen and front room were quick as well, and she checked her phone to see how much time she believably had left. She'd been gone for ten minutes.

She hurried back to Brady's room, pulling her earpiece out on the way, and plopped down in between Stefan and Brady, waiting for a moment to make sure no one was paying attention before pushing the bag of pin cameras into Stefan's hand, who promptly pocketed them.

About ten minutes later, Stefan excused himself to the restroom and Caroline promptly texted him.

_attic basement_

_kk_

Stefan returned a few minutes later. "Claire, it's almost six. Dad wants us home."

"I thought you were staying for dinner?"

Caroline sighed. "I guess not," She said, hoping she sounded disappointed enough, and grabbing her backpack and kissing Brady on the cheek. "My dad is kind of a hard-ass. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Brady said easily, though she could tell that he was annoyed.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll walk you out."

He got up and grabbed her hand as they followed Stefan to the front door. Stefan waited against the doorway watching them like a hawk. "Why don't you grab the car, Stu?" She suggested pointedly.

"No. I think I'm good here."

"You're my brother, not my keeper."

"Nope. Sorry. I won't let him defile your innocence," Stefan said, his voice teasing.

It was probably the first time Caroline had seen Brady irritated. "Look, man, it'll just be for a minute."

"No," Stefan said stubbornly,

_Thank you, Stefan._

"It's okay, Stu," Caroline said quietly, "I'll catch up with you in a minute."

He gave her a raised eyebrow, but obligingly walked out the door, standing on the front path to the sidewalk in perfect view of the door.

Caroline gave Brady an apologetic shrug and he pulled her into a kiss, which she reluctantly returned.

"All right, that's enough!'

Brady sighed and let her go, mumbling a quick apology and promising to see her at school the next day.

* * *

**January 31st, 2013**

Finn sat on the other side of the kitchen table skipping through that day's camera footage while Caroline and Stefan were doing chemistry homework. Well, Caroline was doing chemistry homework while he flipped disinterestedly through the pages of his textbook, pausing every now and then to text Rebekah.

_I miss you, _The newest one read.

He smiled. He missed her too. He was looking forward to Valentine's Day, because they always managed to do something special whether they were on-base or not.

_No, you just miss my cooking._

_Yep. That and your abs._

He smirked.

_I don't think that's all you miss…_

He could almost see her sitting on the couch in the living room she shared with Bonnie, her foot propped up on the coffee table, nail polish in one hand and phone in the other, rolling her eyes at him.

_Can we not tempt my brother and his incredibly accurate sext-dar?_

Stefan winced. Twice before when he had been on missions, Klaus would somehow know that he and Rebekah were sexting. Neither of them had figured out how he did it, but both times Stefan ended up with a bloody nose.

_We'll be back soon, hopefully._

_You'd better be :( Valentine's is coming up._

"I think we have something," Finn said excitedly, making Caroline and Stefan both look up from their respective activities.

"What?" Caroline asked.

Finn turned the laptop around and unpaused the footage from the cameras he'd been looking at. Brady's mother had just picked up her cell phone in the master bedroom.

"_What?...The next shipment will be done next week...Yes, we've fixed the formula. I think at this point a vial could kill an elephant."_

Caroline and Stefan exchanged a look. Kill an elephant?

_"Yes. Wednesday...We should have enough...No, we can't make that much in time...No, we had an agreement, if we hosted your goddamn drug lab, he wouldn't be involved," _Mrs. Amell was saying, her voice suddenly shrill and angry, _"He has nothing to do with this. He's in high school...I don't want that life for him...Fine, fine, I'll see what I can do. Don't hurt him."_

It sounded like the Amells weren't dealing the drug by choice. They were being threatened by someone.

Stefan pressed his lips together.

The Amells were being threatened by whoever their client needed to take out, that much was clear. Whatever person or organization was threatening the family was using their space to make the drugs. There was something about the whole scenario that was weird, but he wasn't quite sure what..

* * *

**February 2nd, 2013**

The shrill sound of her phone ringing was a jarring wake-up call. Caroline rolled over to grab it off of the bedside table, answering without looking at the caller-ID (she had specific ringtones assigned to each person that called her often so that she wouldn't have to), and held it to her ear.

"Hey," She croaked, trying to wriggle out of Klaus's iron grip around her waist.

She knew that he was perfectly awake and knew exactly what was going on, which made her even more annoyed.

"Oh my gosh, did I wake you up? You know that it's ten, right?"

"Yeah. It's fine. I forgot. I'm three hours behind you right now," Caroline said, rubbing her face with her palm.

She and April generally made time to talk every Saturday at ten, and sometimes Stefan would join their call as well. Caroline was happy that they still got to keep in touch.

Caroline, April, and Stefan had been friends since the first day of Kindergarten, when Stefan had been roped into playing princesses with them (he'd always been easy to guilt trip). The three of them were inseparable until fifth grade when Stefan "moved away," and after that, Caroline and April had become even closer.

It was April who had called her to tell her that her parents died, and who had called Stefan immediately afterwards to make sure he flew back. She'd baked about five casseroles for the funeral, had ordered everyone to back off when it was too much for Caroline to handle, and had sat through every boring meeting Caroline had with people in suits that were "sorry for her loss," whether to hold her hand in the office or send Caroline support from the waiting room.

As far as April knew, she had moved to Florida with Stefan and was currently living with him and his girlfriend. Stefan had, over the years, given them bits of information, and they were sticking to the story that April had known before.

Caroline had always felt a little weird about April not knowing, since now it was her and Stefan with April completely out of the loop, but she hadn't had the courage to bring it up with him (or anyone else).

"Where are you?"

"California. I'm visiting," Caroline said, smacking Klaus's arm a little bit harder than necessary, trying to get him to let go.

He stroked the small strip of skin between the hem of her tank top and the top of her sleep shorts, making her shiver, before he released her and she wriggled away to sit up against the headboard.

"Visiting who?"

"Some friends," Caroline said vaguely.

"Caroline, who are you talking to?" Klaus asked curiously.

Caroline winced, knowing that her excitable childhood friend could hear. "Oh my god, Caroline, you didn't tell me that you were with a guy! Are you guys together? Do you _live _together? I mean you woke up with him, and you're not exactly a one-night-stand kind of person. Does Stefan know? Is he why you're in California? He sounds British. Is he British? How did you meet?" April asked, not even pausing for breath.

"Um, yeah. We're together and we're on vacation."

Klaus gave a faint snort before slipping out of bed and pulling on a shirt before wandering out, most likely to the kitchen to make tea.

"_And?_"

"His name is Nik. He's one of Stefan's coworkers. We've been together since Christmas-"

"Oh my god, and you didn't _tell _me?"

"Sorry," Caroline mumbled, "I didn't know if it was going to last."

_Lie._

"What else?"

"Stefan's with us, actually. We're just on a trip. Change of scenery, you know?"

"Yeah. Um… Can you get Stefan on the line, then, maybe? I want to talk to you guys."

"Yeah. Sure," Caroline said, walking to the living room and shaking Stefan's shoulder.

"What?" Stefan mumbled, grabbing her wrist sharply as he opened his eyes, before mumbling an apology.

He didn't do well with being woken up unexpectedly by touch.

Well, really, none of them did. It was part of the job.

"April," Caroline said simply.

Stefan nodded. "Can we Skype?" He asked.

"Sure," April said, having heard him in the background.

They quickly set up Caroline's laptop in their room, and soon April's anxious face came over the camera.

"Hey," She said.

"What's wrong?" Stefan asked immediately, always having been sensitive to the moods of both girls.

"I need to talk to you about something."

"What's up?" Caroline asked, not liking the tone of Apri's voice.

"Well, really ask you a question."

"Okay."

"When are you going to tell me what's really going on?" April said in a rush.

Stefan and Caroline exchanged a quick glance before turning back.

"What do you mean 'what's really going on'?"

"Well, if I hadn't been suspicious before, that incredibly obvious glance would have been a dead giveaway," April said plainly, her eyes narrowed.

Stefan's mouth was pressed in a stubborn line, and Caroline knew that he wouldn't crack, but one of the disadvantages of April knowing both of them since childhood was that she knew exactly how to get the information she wanted, or rather, who to get it from.

"Caroline…"

"We're on a trip. We live in Florida," Caroline said weakly, trying to sound certain.

"Yeah, uh-huh, and I'm the Easter Bunny."

"Well, you _are_ Apr-"

"Shut _up, _Stefan!" April and Caroline said together, before resuming their staring contest.

"Come _on_, Caroline. We tell each other everything. You can trust me."

Caroline shook her head. April stared her down.

"We can't tell you."

"Why?" April asked, looking both hurt and angry.

"Because...it's a secret."

"_And?" _April's lips were pressed together, her eyebrows raised, and Caroline had the distinct impression that she wore the exact same face whenever she was interrogating anyone.

Caroline lasted about ten seconds.

"StefanandIarepartofasecretcrimeorganization," She said in a rush.

"_What?_"

Stefan groaned at how easily she cracked.

"Stefan and I...we're working for an organized crime ring," Caroline said hesitantly.

April looked surprised, but a lot less than Caroline would have expected. Then again, April was the queen of keeping it cool. Of the three of them, she'd always been the most calm. "Well, that blows my theory out of the water."

"What was your theory?"

"I thought that you guys had joined some sort of weird secret cult."

Caroline shrugged. "Basically the same thing."

"No, it's really not," Stefan said irritably, "And you realize that you basically just broke the biggest rule there is, right Caroline? That could have consequences."

Caroline winced.

"I won't tell," April said quickly.

"It doesn't matter whether you'll tell. It matters that Caroline did," Stefan said tiredly, "Hold on, I need to call Silas."

Caroline groaned. She was in _so _much trouble.

An hour later, a car had been sent to pick April up from her apartment in Greensboro, and they would "assess" her (which, Stefan explained, meant that she would join the organization in some fashion or die).

Caroline felt like the worst friend in the world. When she told Stefan as much, he rolled his eyes, muttered something about preaching to the choir, and then locked himself in Finn's bedroom with his laptop.

"That was incredibly stupid of you," Klaus said bluntly as she sat down next to him at the kitchen table.

"Excuse me?"

"You could have been killed for that."

"But I won't be."

"But you could have been," Klaus said, his voice suddenly furious, "Do you honestly have that little regard for your own life, Caroline? Are you willing to throw it away in the name of _honesty_ and _friendship_? You don't get to make that decision. You could have put the entire organization in jeopardy _and _condemned yourself to death. What the _fuck _were you thinking?"

"It worked out? Why are you so angry? It was fine."

"But what if it hadn't been?"

She shrugged. "I knew it would be."

"No. You didn't. You _thought_ it would be."

"Stefan recruited me and it went fine!"

"Stefan _checked _before he recruited you, and Silas had Marcel and Donovan run the most thorough background check possible, and you passed. Your friend did not. You made an incredibly dangerous decision. What if she's untrustworthy and puts everyone in danger?"

Caroline huffed. "I trust April."

"Well, I don't."

"Too bad for you," Caroline burst out defensively, "What's done is done, I can't exactly un-tell her."

"Never. Do. It. Again," He ground out.

"You can't tell me what to do," Caroline said, completely aware of how feeble the response was.

He seemed to know as well, and he took a deep breath and exhaled a few times before slowly getting up to put his mug in the sink, twitching slightly with every movement as though he was trying very hard to keep himself centered and failing miserably, before turning around to look at her.

He stood there for a moment, and he seemed to be weighing his words before they came out of his mouth. She had seen him yell. She had seen him shove knives in someone's face. She had seen him shoot people. She had seen him snap someone's neck without a thought.

She had never been more scared of him than she was in that moment.

She waited for him to speak, trying not to let her fear show, and when he finally spoke, his voice was so soft that she wouldn't have been able to hear it if every one of her senses wasn't focused solely on him.

"Don't leave."

"What?" She asked, his words surprising her.

"Don't leave," He said, his voice shaking slightly.

He was _afraid_, she realized.

He wasn't angry, he was terrified that she'd be taken away.

A piece of advice that her father gave her once when they had been camping floated into her head. She had been nine, and had seen a spider. She screamed and her father ran over, thinking she'd been hurt. She explained tearfully to him that the spider could poison her, and asked if they could go home.

_Carebear… This spider isn't poisonous. It's okay. But you need to remember: Things are deadly because they're defensive. He'll only lash out if he sees you as a threat. He's more afraid of you than you are of him._

She walked over and pulled him into a hug, burying her head into the crook of his neck, and letting him latch onto her.

She had nothing to fear, really. He'd never hurt her. She knew that.

_He's more afraid of you than you are of him._

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Outfits can be found on polyvore, as usual. A picture of Elena's old wedding dress (that she won't be using anymore) is also on the post with the polyvore stuff on my tumblr.  
Any thoughts on the last scene? On the new mission developments? Are you excited for April to come into the picture?  
Mole hint: It's not Alaric :)  
Any more guesses?  
Reviews with feedback help me be a better writer, so you should totally tell me what you think about this chapter :D  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	18. Guilt Trips

**A/N: It's Thursday somewhere, right? ;) Thank you so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites!  
I was surprised by the amount of hate April got even though we've barely seen her (and the parts we've seen of her were good, imo). I'd like to say now that April isn't a bad guy, haha. She is the only person we've met in the story that didn't meet Klaus before Caroline started dating him, which is significant. Her character is slightly different than the one from the show, but I hope you guys enjoy reading her anyway (especially since show-April was pretty boring, imo) :)  
This chapter is very light on Klaroline, and has a lot of plot and "meanwhile back at the ranch" scenes (this is what happens when there are several very Klaroline-focused chapters in a row) (sorry). It also has a lot of background information about the organization and minor characters that may or may not be significant in the future :P**

**There is a line in this chapter that was originally Caroline's in the show, but is said by a different character in this. The first person to find that line in this chapter and tell me who she originally said it to in a review can choose between a smut drabble request for WHLB, or a rough draft of the first chapter of another multi-chapter that I'm working on.**

**Thank you to justanotherfiveminutes for beta work :)  
****Enjoy!  
****-Angie**

* * *

**February 3rd, 2013**

There was a knock on the door of the office she'd been sitting in for the past half hour before a tall man in a suit entered, a small stiff smile on his face. "Hello. You are Miss Young, correct?"

She nodded.

"My name is Elijah Mikaelson. I need you to do a few things for me to verify your identity and file some records, and then I'll ask you a few questions about yourself."

"All right."

He sat down in front of her and pulled out a rectangular device with a glass top, putting it in front of her. "Thumb print, please."

She obliged, pressing her right thumb down on the reader, and when the reader beeped, he set it aside and pulled out a sheaf of papers. "I see that you went to school with Caroline and Stefan."

She nodded. "They're basically family."

"Do you know what this place is?"

"Sort of. It's like, a base for a crime ring, right?"

"I suppose that would be one way of putting it. This place is the headquarters of The Travelers," Elijah began, before launching into a long explanation of the company.

As Elijah talked, April felt more overwhelmed every second, while still somehow feeling like her world was shifting to make more sense. Everything that seemed odd about Stefan's life as a teenager, and about Caroline's disappearance, now made almost complete sense.

'A few questions' turned into two hours of chatting. Elijah had an odd way of making her feel at ease despite his stiff appearance, even when he was asking things that were incredibly personal, but when he finally nodded to himself at the end and walked to the file cabinet, pulling out a thick packet of paper and setting it in front of her with a pen, she suddenly felt all her anxiety come back in a rush.

"This is a contract which binds you to the organization. Please read it thoroughly. I will be here until you are done to answer any questions that you might have."

April bit her lip before pulling the contract toward her.

_Thank you for your interest-_April snorted-_in a position with The Travelers (the "organization" or "we"). This Agreement describes the requirements and responsibilities for a position ("role" or "station") that you (the "agent" or "member") will adhere to. If you do not agree to the terms of this Agreement, we reserve the right to react accordingly as stated by the rules below…_

April read through the contract, becoming more uncomfortable as she did so. "So, you're saying that if I don't agree to this, you'll kill me. Isn't it like, illegal to make someone sign a contract under duress or threat?"

Elijah's lips twitched. "As concerned with _legality _as our _illegal crime ring _is, we use the contract as a way to ensure that you are informed of the regulations and the consequences of breaking them, rather than as a legal document."

"Um. Right. Okay. So what would I be doing for you guys?"

"That depends on you. The reason that you were not admitted the last time-"

"-Last time?"

"Yes. Stefan was adamant that you and Caroline both be admitted. However, you had too many outside contacts that would hold you back should you relocate. Unfortunately, now that the "cat is out of the bag" so-to-speak, you must move to a base."

"So I might not work here with Caroline and Stefan?"

"As I said before, that depends on what you wish to do. You were planning to major in…?"

April knew that he knew exactly what she was majoring in, but humored him anyway. "Computer Science."

"If you so choose, you may be assigned to improve or develop software to help agents train more efficiently or to help agents on the field. You also could work in the security field, which would involve monitoring the security for at least one base, or gathering information from other organizations."

April bit her lip. "How would I complete my degree?"

"You wouldn't," Elijah said bluntly, "You would be assigned to a supervisor in the department who would help you learn through practical work."

It didn't sound terrible, to be honest. It was close to what she'd wanted to do anyway, and since her choices were basically to work or die (which she had a feeling would be giving her a panic attack later), it seemed like the best option.

"All right. When do I start? Where will I live?"

"Jenna will assign you to your living space. If I am not mistaken, Caroline's housemate is moving out very soon, so my guess is that you will be assigned there. In the meantime, you will most likely be housed in the temporary living quarters."

Well, at least she'd have a familiar face.

"All right."

"As for when you start, I will call your supervisor once I have escorted you to meet Jenna, and he will contact you."

"I know that I don't know him, but can you tell me who my supervisor is?"

"His name is Matt Donovan. I'm sure you'll get along very well. Do you have anymore questions?" He asked as he got up and pulled a box out of his pocket.

"Nope."

"Excellent. Welcome to The Travelers, Miss Young," He said, holding out the box.

It was a ring.

**XXX**

April sat on her bed, her new work phone in her hand. She'd texted Caroline, whose work number Elijah had kindly give her, along with Stefan's, and was waiting for the other girl to call her back.

Her phone rang a few minutes later, and April immediately picked up. "Hey, Care."

"April, I am _so _sorry," Caroline said frantically, "Are you okay? They wouldn't let me call you until you met with Elijah. I didn't mean to get you into this mess."

"It's okay, Care," April said quietly.

It really wasn't, but she _had _asked, and she'd rather be in the know than out of it. At least now she could spend time with her friends.

After spending the next ten minutes trying to make Caroline stop apologizing, they talked about jobs. Caroline told her a little bit about Matt Donovan, who April was looking forward to meeting. He seemed like he would be nice.

Caroline also hinted that he was single, making April roll her eyes and laugh.

She felt like that was a little too much change in a short period of time.

"So, is your boyfriend in the organization with you, then?"

"Yeah."

"Is he _real_?"

Caroline laughed. "Very much so. I can't wait for you to meet him."

"Looking forward to it," April said, though she noticed that something about Caroline's voice was strained. "Are you okay, Care?"

"Yeah. Klaus and I-"

"I thought his name was Nick."

"Niklaus," Caroline said, before continuing, "He's upset with me because I told you. He thinks that I could have sentenced myself to death or whatever, and it was really dangerous. He's just really unpleasant to be around when he's angry about something...although I really think that I'm just annoyed at myself because he was right."

"I'm sorry that he's mad."

"It's not like it's your fault. He'll get over it."

"I should hope so. I mean, it ended up fine."

"So have you met anyone besides Elijah yet?" Caroline asked, not-so-gracefully changing the subject.

"No, although he told me that Damon is engaged. Is that true?"

"Yeah," Caroline said, sounding a bit pained, "He's still a dick, though."

"I don't doubt it."

Caroline laughed.

"So what did you do today?" April asked, settling down to have a long conversation with her friend.

* * *

**February 4th, 2013**

"When will Daddy be home?" Katya asked, as she had every day since Finn had left.

Sage sighed, smoothing a crease in a pair of Dmitri's slacks that had just come out of the wash. She hated laundry, and it was one of the chores Finn normally did.

He had never been gone from the base for more than a few days at a time, and that was only since he recently became a handler. Katya had been constantly asking after him, and Dmitri, in contrast, had been strangely quiet.

The twins had initially been excited when Finn had sat them down and told them that he was going back to being a handler, thinking that it was cool, but when Bonnie had been injured by doing nothing but leaving the base they had realized that their father was going to be in constant danger.

Needless to say, the fact that the twins had been on edge since Finn had left a little over two weeks before did not exactly do wonders for Sage's own anxiety.

"We still don't know, Katya. I told you that I would tell you when we find out."

"Why hasn't he called us?"

"I'm sure he's busy."

Katya nodded, apparently satisfied by her answer, before her pencil started scratching on her worksheet. No members were full-time teachers (except Alaric), but some spent a few hours a week with the children tutoring in their own subjects.

"Is that math?"

"Yeah. Marcel says if I can finish with proportions by the end of the week then I can be done for this unit."

"Really?" Sage asked, raising an eyebrow.

By the age of eight, the organization usually had a basic idea of what would be a good fit for the child in terms of strengths and weaknesses, though nothing was set in stone at all, and started shepherding the child down that path.

While Dmitri was quiet and bookish, and would most likely end up doing something similar to what Elijah did, Katya was energetic and active, and had her heart set on being a field agent from the age that she knew what it was, mostly due to Klaus.

Klaus had been pinned as a future field agent before he'd turned seven. The Mikaelsons had moved to Mystic Falls when Sage had been seventeen, in the middle of her medical training, and she remembered the nine-year-old Klaus already being detached from those besides his family, but willing to learn anything he could get his hands on.

Klaus, as a general rule, was about as fond of children as he was of small talk and parties. He could deal with it temporarily, but he'd rather be doing almost anything else.

However, the twins, Katya in particular, looked up to him as the "cool uncle" (which made everyone else in the family incredibly uneasy). Oddly, Klaus had taken a shine to Katya (well, as much as he could take a shine to anybody that wasn't Caroline, which meant that he was a little more than neutral), and had been willing to spend the occasional hour or two with her once a month to practice hand to hand combat.

Since their first lesson together, Katya had been determined to get through her studies as quickly as possible so that she could start training to be a field agent.

She was required to get past Algebra One and Geometry level before she was allowed to stop, and every time the word "math" was mentioned, Sage could practically hear the gears turning in Katya's head, counting down the days.

"Yep!" Katya said brightly.

"What else do you have to do this week?"

"Ayana said that we'd start learning about cells this week, and Alaric wants to do a sparring test on Thursday."  
"What about for English?"

"Paragraphs," Katya said making a face, "But guess what!"

"Hmm?"

"Jenna said that we can choose our third language next week if we pass the fluency test for French."

"Oh?"

Katya nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah."

"Do you know what you're picking?"

Katya immediately put a casual look on her face, and Sage had a funny feeling she knew exactly what was about to come out of her mouth. "Aramaic."

Sage resisted the urge to groan. _Of course she would pick that_. "Why? There are so many more useful languages."

"Yeah, but it's the foundation language for an entire family," Katya said reasonably, and Sage had a feeling that her daughter had prepared a speech about why she should be able to learn a language that only Klaus could teach her (if she wasn't allowed to move to their branch in Bulgaria to study with Annabelle, which they both knew was not going to happen), and was prepared to give it if needed.

"Are you sure you don't want to do something else? Russian is complicated, if you're after a language that's hard to learn," Sage tried, knowing that it was completely pointless.

She could always insist that Katya not be allowed to take it, but interfering with training was heavily frowned upon, the organization as a whole having the firm belief that when there were aspects of training where choice was allowed, that choice must be respected.

"No."

"I assume that you're going to talk to Uncle Nik when he gets back?" Sage asked dryly.

"Yep."

Sage sighed. "Do you know what Dmitri's doing?"

Katya made a face. "He's boring. He wants to do Spanish."

"That's very useful," Sage said, happy with Dmitri's choice.

"Whatever."

Sage finished folding the last shirt in the pile and was preparing to bring the basket up the stairs when Katya spoke again. "D'you think that Aunt Caroline-"

"Just Caroline, Katya," Sage corrected gently, not wanting her daughter to get ahead of herself.

Katya rolled her eyes. "If you say so, Mom. Anyway, do you think that _Caroline _would teach me how to shoot?"

"You aren't allowed yet. You know the rules: Twelve and up for guns."

"Yeah, for _real _guns."

"You'd have to ask her."

Katya nodded agreeably. "Okay. I have a question."

"Hmm?"

"If Jane has half as many apples as Susan, and Johnny has three times as many apples as Jane, what percentage of apples does Jane have?"

"That sounds like a question _you're_ supposed to be answering."

Katya shrugged. "Worth a try, though."

**XXX**

"Hi. April, right?" Matt said, holding out his hand to the petite girl in front of him.

He had a hard time believing that she was twenty, just because she was so short (he was almost a foot taller than her) and was dressed in a sweater and jeans. She met his gaze confidently and shook his hand. "Yeah. Matt?"

He nodded. "It's nice to meet you," They both said at the same time, Matt smiling slightly at the awkwardness.

"So, what am I supposed to be doing?"

"We're going to see what you can do today. Once I figure out where you are in skill level, we'll make a more detailed plan."

"Okay," April said, her face transforming into the same determined look that he'd seen Caroline wear every time someone told her that she couldn't do something.

He led her to a chair with a laptop set up, and she sat down, adjusting the chair so that her fingers could rest comfortably on the keyboard, and she looked at him expectantly, apparently awaiting instruction.

"I want you to hack into an external server I set up and get the information on it. If you get it, load it onto this flash drive," He said, handing her a piece of paper with the hosting server's address and a USB stick, "Do your best, and let me know when you've gone as far as you can."

He had designed the encryption software himself, and it wasn't easy to crack (though it was much easier than the ones that they used to fend off other organizations). There were several layers of protections as well, and he fully expected her to get stuck on the third one, if not the second. "Gone as far as I can?" She asked, sounding slightly insulted.

He shrugged. "It's heavy stuff."

"Have you read my background file?" She asked, frowning, though she was starting to look more amused than annoyed.

"I didn't want to give myself preconceived notions to where you were. It's easier that way for the first day."

She grinned, not turning to the laptop yet. "So, I assume you know that Stefan convinced Caroline and I to do a few things together? Like cheerleading?"

Matt nodded, wary of the change of subject.

"Well, I quit cheerleading and dance in freshman year of high school because I got really into computer stuff. Cryptology, to be exact."

"Really?" Matt asked, slightly dubious.

She nodded. "Well, let's see it," Matt said, shrugging and gesturing to the laptop.

He sat at his desktop across the room and watched April immediately pull up the command prompt, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

He turned back to his work-he and Marcel had been working on improving the tracking rings-but found he couldn't concentrate. April was leaning over the keyboard slightly, constantly having to move her hair out of her face as she typed, her tank top riding up slightly to show the skin of her flat stomach.

No.

He was _not _ogling his new co-worker.

Nope.

He didn't even know her. For all he knew she could be a rude, shallow, bitch. Although, he knew that Caroline and Stefan probably had better taste than that. He'd be getting to know her better as they worked together, he knew. Hopefully it would stay professional.

He determinedly focused back on his screen, and he very quickly got absorbed, focusing on the problem in front of him.

He heard a quiet cough next to him and looked up to see April holding out a flash drive. "I did it," She said quietly, a hint of a smirk on her face.

He took the flash drive from her and plugged it into his computer to see if she had, absently checking the clock to see that it had taken her about six hours, which wasn't absurdly slow, but not fast either.

He opened the flash drive window to find that she had, indeed, retrieved her background check from the other server. "Nice," He said, impressed.

"Thanks."

"We'll talk more tomorrow," He said after a few beats of silence, "I'll think about what would be the best fit for you."

"Okay."

She turned around to grab her purse, and he turned back to his screen to look over her background check. He scanned the information, stopping at the bottom where there was a space for notes from the recruiter. Stefan had written a short paragraph about how she'd designed and sent out a virus to shut down all the school computers for senior skip day and the servers hadn't been up for three months.

He was training a hot computer nerd. He was so fucked.

Whether it was in a good or bad way remained to be seen.

* * *

**February 6th, 2013**

"That will go in the living room," Katerina said, directing Tyler where to put the box he was holding. He, along with Jeremy and Mason, were helping her move into Elijah's house (and had moved Matt out to live with Kol earlier that day).

"I've heard there's a new girl," Katerina said as she re-counted the boxes.

"Yeah, her name's April. She's moving in with Caroline," Jeremy said.

"Matt seems kinda into her, actually," Tyler added, grabbing his jacket.

"Really?" Katerina said, smirking.

Matt hadn't been in a relationship since he briefly dated Elena in their early teens. He got close with a girl named Bree, but she was transferred to the branch in Spain before anything could really come of it.

"Mmhm. She seems nice. Really into computers too, if I heard right. Jer went over to get his laptop checked and apparently Matt wouldn't shut up about her," Tyler said, causing Jeremy to elbow him in the side.

"Just because I tell you things doesn't mean you're allowed to know them," Jeremy said exasperatedly.

"Good to know," Katerina said slowly, "Well, I appreciate you helping me carry everything."

"No problem Kat, what are handlers for?" Mason asked teasingly.

She rolled her eyes and gave them all hugs goodbye before shooing them outside. Elijah wasn't due back from the mansion for a few hours, and she was determined to have everything in its place by then. Her closet would take the longest to unpack, she knew, because not only did have too many clothes, but she was now sharing a closet with Elijah, who had his own collection of suits.

She decided to move the things she rarely wore to the guest bedroom closet. It took a good two hours to unpack all of her clothes and shoes, and she still needed to unpack her furniture. By the time she'd gotten all of her personal items unpacked and put away it was dinnertime, and she changed into sleep shorts and a tank top before exploring the fridge to see if they had any groceries.

She felt slightly bad about the whole thing, especially as she hadn't gotten a chance to tell Caroline yet and she'd already moved out, but April was moving in with her, so Caroline would be happy, right?

She'd just put the water on to boil and salted it when she heard the front door open and the smell of chinese take out wafted through the door. She quickly shut the burner off and poked her head out to the living room to see Elijah putting the plastic bag on the entry table and shrugging off his suit jacket to hang on the coat rack by the door.

"Katerina," He greeted, apparently unable to keep the wide smile off of his face.

She walked up and loosened his tie slightly before pulling him in for a greedy kiss, crushing her mouth against his, his teeth on her lips making her moan.

She pulled away, knowing that her hair was mussed but not able to care. "Welcome home."

He smirked. "From the lack of boxes in the entryway, I'd assume that you've unpacked already."

She nodded.

"And has everyone left?" He asked, his hands descending down to grip her hips.

"Yep," She said, neatly untangling herself from his arms and grabbing the bag of take-out cartons, "Let's go eat."

He gave her an amused look and followed her to the kitchen. Katerina talked about how Tyler, Mason, and Jeremy might be the slowest movers known to man and how she'd found out that Matt apparently had a crush on April (which led to her begging Elijah for details on April's orientation), and Elijah listened, as usual. Katerina enjoyed watching Elijah visibly become more impatient as she dragged out the dinner, finally setting her fork down and bringing the plates to the sink to rinse them. Elijah grabbed her wrist before she could get up, gently took the dishware out of her hands and set them on the table, and plucked her up off the ground, making her giggle, carrying her up the staircase to their bedroom.

He set her down on the bed and captured her lips again, looming over her so that her legs could wrap around him, his hands already tugging her top over her head, freeing her breasts, and he cupped them in his hands, running his thumbs over her nipples so that they peaked into hardened buds before leaving kisses down her neck and shoulder and taking a nipple in his mouth, nibbling on it and soothing the sting with his tongue.

One of his hands traveled up to tangle into her curls, and she moaned as he tugged her head back slightly so that his mouth could travel back up to her neck, pleasurably scratching her skin with his teeth.

Her hands went back to his loose tie, which she began to unknot, but he pulled her hands away, unknotting it himself and pulling it off.

"Wrists together, Katerina."

* * *

**February 7th, 2013**

"Are you excited for next week?" Brady asked, squeezing Caroline closer to him on the couch they were on while they watched a movie.

"Valentine's Day you mean?"

He nodded.

"Um, I guess it depends what we're doing."

Brady laughed. "What do you want to do?"

She shrugged. Truthfully, she was hoping they'd be done with the mission by then. They now had a decent idea of where the stashes were. They just had to destroy all of them. Stefan seemed to be convinced that there was something off about the mission, but Caroline wasn't so sure.

Yes, the Amells were clearly being threatened to make them participate, but that didn't mean much in the long run. The mission would be the same whether they were being threatened or not.

"Isn't that your job?"

"Well, how will I know that I'm not going to pick something you hate if you don't tell me what you want to do?"

She shrugged. "We could go see a movie, I guess."

"Or we could have dinner here," He suggested, trying to sound casual, "My parents are going out that night."

She inwardly winced, but knew it would be weird to say no. "Sure. That's fine."

_Please let us be ready to leave before Valentine's Day._

**XXX**

"Are you still mad?" Caroline asked, poking her head into her and Klaus's bedroom when she got back from her date at Brady's house. He was lounging on their bed, a sketchbook and pen in his hands.

Since his blow-up, he'd been a bit colder towards her. He still cuddled her close to him when they slept, and when she watched television he'd sit beside her and sketch, but he was obviously still unhappy with her.

"Are you going to ask me that every time you come home?"

She laughed quietly. "Yeah, until you're not mad anymore."

"I'm not angry with you, Caroline."

"Then why have you been so distant for the past few days?"

He shifted sideways so that there was room on her side of the bed and gestured to it. "Sit down?" He suggested.

She gave him a suspicious look as she approached. "'Sit down' is generally not a good answer to that question. It's ranked right up there with 'we need to talk' and 'I have something to tell you.'"

He looked uncomfortable, but attempted a smile as he dropped his sketchbook on the floor next to the bed and pulled her to him so that her head rested on his chest, his arm wrapping around her so that his hand could stroke her bare thigh under her dress.

He was quiet for a few minutes, and she was getting ready to speak again when he spoke. "Were you ever going to tell me about your relationship with Damon?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Um. I did."

He gave her a reproachful look. "No, you didn't. I knew that you two had kissed and shared a bed, though I was not sure of the context."

"Why does it matter?"

"Do you trust me?" He countered.

"Yes," She said immediately, without even really thinking about it. "Of course I do. It just didn't seem important."

He nodded slowly, his arm still looped around her waist. "But it's important to me."

"Why? No offense, but it's really not any of your business."

He pressed his lips together. "He hurt you."

She snorted. "No, he didn't. He was kind of an ass, and he led me on and took advantage of me being sixteen and slightly desperate, but he didn't hurt me. Besides, it's been years. I'm over it."

"...Which is hurting you."

"No. It's not. I mean, not anymore. Sure, I was upset for a few months, but I was sixteen. He was only like, my second _real _boyfriend."

He still looked annoyed, and she was honestly a bit offended. "Do you really think that I was hurt enough to still care about what he thinks of me? He's not worth it."

"You're right. He's not," he said, a slight smile overtaking his face at her words.

She frowned. "You're being very calm about this."

"Would you rather I threw a fit and went on a murderous rampage?" he asked dryly.

"No. I just...I guess I expected you to be a bit more...reactive."

He snorted. "Well, I've had almost a year to process it, and I spent a good half of it watching you strongly dislike him, and the second half watching you avoid him."

"What do you mean you've had a year to process it?"

"You were to be on my team. Did you think I wouldn't read your file?" He asked, sounding vaguely insulted.

Caroline felt slightly violated, though she wasn't sure why. What else was in that file? Did he know anything else that he wasn't telling her?

"What else do you know about me?"

He smiled slightly. "Everything in your file. You were born in Greensboro on October 10th, 1992, and you've lived there almost all your life before you came to Mystic Falls. You've never been out of the country. You won the local beauty pageant when you were seventeen, and you were a cheerleader, as well as being involved with several other school clubs. I know that you dated Damon Salvatore and a number of others during high school. I know that your parents died in an accidental fire started by Mitchell Baker, who lived a few houses down the street. You were going to major in international relations at Whitmore...There's quite a bit more, but nothing else of note, really."

"So you basically can regurgitate my entire biography?" Caroline asked grumpily, wondering who else had all this information about her.

"It's not available to everyone," He said quickly, as though sensing her train of thought, "It was only available to me because I was to be your team leader. The only people that are allowed to look are your team leader, which would be me, Silas, and the branch's supervisor, which is Elijah, and the branch's head of security, which is Donovan. Stefan can also see it because he was the one who recruited you."

She nodded slowly. "So, what are you going to do now? Make his life miserable?"

Klaus snorted. "Not worth it. I know you're mine and so does he. It would accomplish nothing but making you and Stefan upset, which is not conducive to a productive work environment."

A part of her wanted to laugh at the last statement, but a larger part was stuck on his first words.

"What do you mean I'm yours?"

A frown flitted across his face. "You are my girlfriend, are you not?"

She nodded hesitantly. "Yeah."

He gave her a warm dimpled smile. "Well, there you are."

She laughed, shaking her head slightly. "All right. I'll be yours if you'll be mine."

"Sounds fair, sweetheart."

She grinned at him and gave him a quick peck on the lips that quickly turned heated, his hands running up and down her legs and sneaking under the hem of her dress as she tugged his shirt off.

**XXX**

Caroline was asleep, her legs tangled with his, as she buried her head into his chest, pressing herself to him. He stroked her hair as he reflected on their earlier conversation.

After her mishap where she told her friend about the organization, he felt an odd uneasiness about her comfort level in confiding with him. He had been waiting for her to bring it up, but he had started to get the feeling that she never would unless he initiated the conversation, and he couldn't deny that he was curious.

He had promised that he wouldn't lie to her directly, and he intended to keep that promise. He would not torture or kill Damon (as much as he wanted to), and therefore not make his life miserable.

He would, however, be perfectly happy to threaten him within an inch of his life if he didn't stay away from Caroline. No contact under any circumstances unless it was life or death for her.

And since he had no plans to allow her to end up in any dangerous situations in which Damon would be her only chance at getting out alive, Damon would simply never have contact with her again.

He was perfectly willing to enforce this. He never made empty threats, and Damon knew it. It wouldn't be his fault of Damon stepped out of line, after all.

* * *

**February 8th, 2013**

"Yes, I think that she'll be back soon," The agent said, "Another girl came to base recently who was a childhood friend of her and Stefan."

"Really?" Mikael said from the other end of the line, "Interesting development."

"Caroline should be back from their mission in California soon. Silas took the bait, and they're going to destroy the entire stock of vervain. It should take awhile for them to find all of it."

"Good. And the plan for when she gets back?"

"Knock her out when she's on her way home. Take her, Kol, Tyler, Jeremy, and any witnesses to you."

"Good."

There was a silent moment over the line before the agent spoke again. "And you promise that if I do this, nothing will happen to him?"

"He will be safe. I give you my word."

They said their goodbyes and the line went dead.

**XXX**

Stefan laid back on the couch staring at the ceiling. He had been spending the last hour trying to figure out what was bothering him so much about the assignment. He had a gut instinct that something wasn't right.

So far, the information that they had was that the Amells were being blackmailed, and clearly had either been involved with their blackmailers and wanted out when they had Brady, or were still in the same organization and just wanted to keep Brady out of it. If it was him, he'd bet on the first one.

The Amells were manufacturing a hallucinogen, which their client wanted to get rid of so badly that they had to destroy every last bit of it. Silas had also seemed unusually invested in the case, and had reinforced the idea that all the drugs had to be destroyed, but hadn't given a thorough explanation.

Not that any of the field agents were ever fully aware of who their clients were, but they usually had a copy of the contract, which told them things like whether the target had to be kept alive. They hadn't gotten such a contract this time, which almost never happened, and Stefan had assumed that it was simply because there wasn't supposed to be any violence involved.

But what if they didn't have a client? What if Silas had simply wanted the mission done?

But why wouldn't he tell them? Unless it was a security risk… The only organization that had been a security threat lately was The Hunters, and they were also the most likely to target the Travelers specifically. All of the drugs had to be destroyed, which meant that, assuming Silas was the client, the drugs were a danger to the organization somehow.

As he thought about it, he was more and more certain that Silas had contracted them. After the twins had been kidnapped, Stefan had gotten the sense that there was a mole in the organization, and Silas probably assigned the mission to them because they were all loyal to the organization, but hadn't wanted to tell them in case they had contact. That's why they were sent out that day.

But why was Silas so set on destroying a bunch of hallucinogens?

"_...at this point a vial could kill an elephant…"_

While Stefan wasn't exactly an expert on drugs, from what he knew, generally hallucinogens weren't meant to kill elephants. Well, anything in a large enough quantity could kill anything, but a vial? No… Vervain wasn't a hallucinogen-at least, not a recreational one… And if one vial could take out an elephant, and they were making it in huge quantities...

"The Vervain...it's poison. The Hunters are planning to kill us all."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed that chapter. **

**Bring on the mole guesses! Remember, our hints for the mole so far are:**

**1\. It's not a Mikaelson**  
**2\. It's not a Salvatore brother**  
**3\. It's not Alaric.**  
**4\. It's not Jeremy, Tyler, or Kol**

**Do we still hate April? What do you think of Katya's life goals? Excited for Klaroline to celebrate Valentine's Day? What about the plot development with the vervain? Let me know your thoughts!  
The only way I get to be a better writer is with feedback. A very kind reader pointed out to me that my quote grammar could use some work. This chapter was mostly written at the time and I didn't want to deal with changing it, but hopefully in the future that stuff will be handled a bit more carefully. :)**

**As always, you can find me on tumblr at thetourguidebarbie, where there are links to my polyvore and tumblr drabbles. I take drabble requests in my ask box, so you should totally give me some :)  
****Hugs!  
-Angie**


	19. Valentine's Day

**A/N: Hey guys :) Happy (almost) Valentine's Day! I didn't mean for this week's update to correspond with the in-fic date, but it did. XD  
The JP yahoo article is coming out tomorrow, and I figured I would post this early because I want to post it before the article goes out.  
Thank you justanotherfiveminutes for beta stuff :)  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**February 8th, 2013**

"―And so I think that the Amells are being blackmailed by the Hunters and the vervain is poison."

Caroline frowned. The explanation made sense in context, but it was a little bit of a longshot. Klaus was apparently thinking on the same lines. "Why on earth would the Hunters be creating massive quantities of poison?"

"To kill us all."

Klaus snorted. "That makes absolutely no sense."

"It doesn't particularly matter what it is," Finn chipped in. "Regardless of whether vervain is a hallucinogen, a poison, or a new kind of fertilizer, we are destroying it on Thursday. Caroline and Brady will be alone in the house, it's the perfect time."

"Wait, you're going to come in _while _I'm on my date with Brady?"

"When did you think we were going to come in, exactly? Once his parents got home?"

"But then he'll _know_."

Caroline felt awful. Not only did she lead this kid on, but he would find out that she was leading him on. She felt like a terrible person. Of course, she'd only been "dating" him for two weeks, but that was practically a year in a high school relationship, and he'd been falling hard for her.

"He was always going to know, Caroline," Stefan said, clearly understanding where the conversation was going.

"But…"

"You knew this would happen when the mission started," Finn said gently.

"I know, but I feel bad."

Stefan shrugged. "Of course you do. You wouldn't be you if you didn't. We'll come in a few minutes after you do, just keep him in the bedroo–"

"No. Absolutely not," Klaus interrupted.

"Klaus, it's my job."

"You don't need to be undercover anymore as soon as you walk in that door, and I won't have you unnecessarily putting yourself at risk–"

"You won't _have _it? Um, no, sorry. That reasoning doesn't fly with me, Klaus, and you know it. Also, at risk for _what_?"

She suppressed a smile as Klaus seemed to flounder for a moment―most likely trying to come up with an excuse that wasn't, 'At risk for making me incredibly uncomfortable.'―but could understand where he was coming from, as Brady would find out anyway, whether he saw them or not.

She bit her lip. "How about I keep him in the living room and we can have a talk about why this happened and his parents and reassure him that nothing's going to happen."

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Caroline. We don't know that nothing's going to happen. We're not calling the police, but if the Hunters are behind this they'll probably kill or torture them."

"But―but _no._ We can't let that happen. Brady's such a sweet kid. He doesn't deserve that. What if we recrui–"

"Caroline, love, you can't recruit every lost puppy you find, no matter how friendly they are. There's no guaranteeing he would be loyal, as we just essentially condemned his parents to death. It's too much of a risk. He's collateral damage."

"We could recruit them, too. And that's a terrible thing to say."

"No, Caroline. We can't. And it might be a terrible thing to say, but it's true."

She narrowed her eyes. "You just don't want me to because you're jealous of Brady."

"No, I don't want you to because it's dangerous," Klaus insisted.

"But it's not fair," she said.

She knew her voice was rising in volume, but she couldn't help it. It just wasn't fair to him, or to his parents… They were threatened, and he shouldn't have to deal with the consequences of his parents' mistakes.

"Life's not fair," Klaus said, a bit harshly.

"Tell you what," Stefan interrupted, "How about you call Silas and see if he says yes. If he does, great, we'll do it. If he doesn't, you _have _to follow directions. All right, Caroline?"

Caroline bit her lip. She could agree to that.

**XXX**

Klaus watched Caroline's face at Stefan's words, and he knew that she was already mentally constructing an airtight pitch to recruit Brady. He had no doubt she'd succeed.

He'd need to talk to Silas when they got back about how Caroline let her feelings influence her actions on missions. She really shouldn't be a field agent if this kept happening.

She clearly hadn't yet accepted what they did, preferring to focus on killing drug cartel leaders and rapists and assassins. She probably rationalized that, ultimately, they were doing good things.

Unfortunately, she was very, very wrong.

This would not be the first mission where they were screwing over an innocent person, and the sooner she accepted the fact that this was, in fact, what her job was, the happier she would be. Unfortunately, he had no idea how he would go about convincing her.

But he knew someone who would.

* * *

**February 11th, 2013**

"Nope, fuck it. This isn't due until Friday and we'll be gone by then. I refuse. Tell Silas that I'm never doing a high school undercover mission again. Nobody has time for this bullshit," Caroline said angrily, crumpling up her Spanish homework and throwing it onto the tiled floor of the kitchen.

"You all right, love?" Klaus asked slowly, looking up from his laptop.

She had been increasingly irritable over the last few days, and Klaus honestly couldn't figure out why. Silas agreed to Caroline's request, with a few conditions, and Klaus would have thought she'd be happy.

"No. I'm not all right. This is bullshit. I hate this."

Klaus's lips twitched. Seeing Caroline waving her arms around and spitting profanities about homework was strangely adorable.

"No. Stop laughing at me. Seriously, this is awful. I am doing high school homework that I have no interest in doing that is completely pointless, and I have to figure out how to tell Brady that not only were the last two weeks a complete fucking _lie_, but also that I was undercover for a crime ring and his life could be in danger and so we are taking him and his parents to work for us in an undisclosed location until the threat has subsided, at which point they will be integrated into our organization. Oh, or they could choose to _die_. Because _that's _not a forced choice or anything."

He sighed. "Caroline…"

"Do you think I'm making a mistake? Saving Brady and his parents?"

He sighed. "No, I don't think you're making a mistake. I just think you need to accept that you can't save everybody every time."

She nodded to herself. "Yeah. I do."

* * *

**February 13th, 2013**

"Nik, are you aware of what time it is?" Rebekah groaned from the other end of the line.

Yes. He was very aware of what time it was. In California, where he was currently residing with Caroline, Stefan, and Finn, it was eleven-thirteen at night. In Virginia, where Rebekah was, it was two-thirteen in the morning. However, he had a feeling that informing her of this would not have the desired outcome, and simply settled for, "I need your assistance."

"With what?"

"Tomorrow is Valentine's Day."

"I'm aware. And due to your stupid mission, I can't spend it with my boyfriend."

"Right, well, I would like to plan something for Caroline when she gets back from the boy's house." _Back to base._ "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Ask Stefan."

"But Stefan's asleep."

"...So was I."

"Yes, but now you are awake."

"So, wait, let me clarify: You are calling me at two in the bloody morning to ask advice for what to plan for Valentine's Day for _your_ girlfriend, when not only is _her _best friend in closer physical proximity, but also much more informed on her interests and preferences than I."

Yes. That sounded about right.

"You're a woman," he pointed out.

He heard Rebekah's, in his opinion rather overly dramatic, sigh, and remained quiet for a few moments to let her gather her thoughts.

"Well, if I were you, which I'm not because if I _was _you I would have had this planned out _weeks _ago, I would ask Stefan in the morning."

"You're not being very helpful, Little Sister."

"I'm your little sister. Foiling your evil plans at every turn is my job," she said dryly, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get some sleep. I'm leaving for screw-n-skewer later today."

"No one should have ever allowed Katerina Petrova anywhere close to you."

"No one should have ever allowed you close to the rest of the human population. Good _night_, Nik."

There was a soft clicking sound, and the call ended.

* * *

**February 14th, 2013**

Caroline was asleep, and Klaus walked into the kitchen to get breakfast. He was slightly surprised to see Stefan already at the table, clutching his coffee.

"Good morning."

"You look terrible," Klaus said, opening the cabinet door to get a cereal box.

"Thanks," Stefan said dryly. "Your sister gave me an earful this morning because I can't tell her when we'll be back, and she thinks it won't be for awhile."

Klaus snorted. "Well, have fun with that tonight, mate."

Stefan opened his mouth, most likely to say something along the lines of, "I will," but he seemed to have remembered that he was talking to her brother and tried to cover the momentary impulse to make a sexual innuendo by taking an extra-large sip of coffee.

"What are you doing for Caroline?"

Klaus had thought about it overnight, and he'd come to a decision, but he also wanted to push Stefan's buttons (it was a favorite pastime of his that he didn't get to indulge in nearly enough with Caroline around).

"I want her to move in."

"Excuse me?"

Klaus repeated himself.

"You guys have been dating for two months. Also, don't you think I should have been consulted about this?"

"Why would I do that?"

"I live with you."

"Oh. Right. Move out."

Stefan groaned, and Klaus had to suppress a smile.

"You can't just ask her to move in with us after two months. Even you know―You are totally fucking with me, aren't you?"

Klaus just grinned and took a bite of his cereal.

Stefan rolled his eyes before closing them and taking another sip of his coffee. "So, what are you actually doing?"

"No. If I tell you, you'll tell her, and then she'll know and it'll be ruined."

"She hates surprises."

"I know. I just don't want her to know too far in advance."

Stefan nodded, seeming to accept the explanation.

"Will you be ready for school in an hour?"

Stefan groaned. "Do me a favor and never ask me that again."

"Well, if all goes well this afternoon, I'll never have the opportunity."

**XXX**

Caroline woke to Klaus's hot breath on her neck, his fingers running along her stomach under her sleep shirt.

"Morning," she mumbled, turning over to face him.

He gave her a genuine, dimpled smile, and she slung a leg over him, brushing her lips over his stubbled cheek. "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day, love."

Her lips descended on his, and he bit her bottom lip gently, his hands drifting down to rest on her bare thighs. Her phone buzzed on the bedside table, and she sighed, rolling off of him, stretching to reach it, but being held back by his arm around her waist.

She managed to grab it and saw a text from Brady.

_Good morning, Beautiful._

She let out a huff of annoyance.

"Everything all right?"

"Yeah," she said, turning off the phone and setting it on the night table without replying and turning back to face him. "It's today."

"Indeed."

She sighed. She was not looking forward to the afternoon. She said as much, and Klaus gave her what was probably supposed to be a sympathetic look, but looked more like a grimace.

A for effort.

"It will be fine, I'm sure."

"I just...What do I say?"

She still hadn't figured out a good way to say, 'I was leading you on so that my best friend, mass-murdering boyfriend, and mass-murdering boyfriend's brother could invade your house, destroy a bunch of drugs your parents are secretly developing, and basically kidnap you and your family to a safe house until further notice.'

Klaus shrugged. "Just tell him the truth."

"But…"

"Caroline. If you were in his position, would you want the truth?"

"Yes."

"Well there you go."

She sighed and buried her face in his neck, tangling her legs with his. "I'm sorry. It's Valentine's Day, I shouldn't be stressing about my fake boyfriend," she mumbled.

"It's all right, love."

"Do we have any plans for the day?"

"Well, I thought we could postpone the plan for a few days," Klaus said slowly. "I know you probably want to celebrate it today, but I thought we should wait until we're back on-base, and we can make the day about us."

Caroline smiled. "So in other words, you haven't planned anything yet."

"Your faith in me is astounding," he said dryly.

**XXX**

"See you later Stu," Caroline said, hugging Stefan and letting Brady lead her to his car, a hand around her waist.

She was trying very hard not to psych herself out. Brady clearly noticed that she'd been jumpy, and when he slid into the driver's seat of his car he turned to her without putting on his seatbelt.

"We don't have to...you know."

"Have to what?"

"_You know_," he said, giving her a this-is-obvious-but-I'm-not-saying-the-word-sex look that teenagers were so fond of.

She smiled slightly. "I know."

_I know at least five ways to kill you using common household objects before you get within three feet of me._

He put his seatbelt on and waited for her to do the same before starting the car and pulling out of the lot.

Her phone vibrated and she pulled it out to look at Finn's text.

_10m_

She resisted the impulse to let out a huge sigh of relief. They'd be there before she and Brady got there, which meant that she wouldn't have to play the distraction.

She and Brady made small talk until they pulled up in front of his house and walked up to the front door. He pulled out his key and let them in, shutting the door behind him, and turning around to see Finn in the foyer.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" Brady asked immediately, his hand going straight for the cell phone in his pocket.

Finn fingered the gun he had visibly strapped to his belt, and Brady froze.

"Please put your hands in the air and we'll go to the living room."

"Why are you here?" Brady asked again, before turning to Caroline, who didn't bother trying to look scared, instead rubbing her face with her palms.

"Come on," Caroline said quietly, putting her hand gently on Brady's shoulder and leading him to the living room.

She sat down on the couch across from him, her hands fidgeting in her lap. Finn gave her a look and jerked his head toward Brady, who frowned. Caroline sighed.

"So, we need to talk."

Brady's eyebrows rose. "We're being held at gunpoint by this guy and your response is to break up with me?"

_Well, essentially yes._

"So, this is Finn," she said, gesturing towards him. "And I'm Caroline."

"You know this guy? And you said your name was–"

"Yes, I know. Finn, can you go get some tea for him or something?"

Finn snorted and sat down beside Caroline instead. "Why don't _you _go make some tea, and I'll tell him."

Caroline grimaced. "All right. Brady, what kind of tea do you want?"

"Are you fucking kidding? You're clearly in league with this guy, who isn't robbing anything, and you're asking what kind of fucking tea I want? Are you fucking crazy?"

She winced.

"I'll take that as Chamomile."

She walked to the kitchen and took a deep breath, bracing herself on the counter, before pouring water into a glass pitcher and putting in the microwave.

She wasn't going to feed it to Klaus, so fuck him and his tea standards.

She rummaged around for the teabags and realized that at some point in the last ten months, tea had suddenly become the answer to pretty much anything. She found them and took the water out of the microwave, pouring it into two mugs, grabbing another one so that they would have somewhere to put the used tea bags, and carrying it back, giving Brady a mug and a tea bag, which he stared at as though they'd personally offended him.

She, on the other hand, settled down next to Finn, who was in the middle of explaining what Brady's parents had been up to. She sat with her eyes on the floor as Finn talked, and pulled her teabag out after a few minutes, dropping it in the empty mug and clutching hers in her palms. Somehow the warmth from the hot water calmed her down (maybe Klaus had a point?).

"―And so our partners are now destroying the stock. You and your parents will have the option of moving to an undisclosed, safe location where no one will be able to find you."

"And what if we don't want to?"

"Then you're a loose end," Finn said, his meaning clear.

Brady was silent, and when Caroline looked up, his eyes were on her, scared and angry. "So you were lying?"

Caroline winced again. "Yeah."

"Don't worry, mate. If it makes you feel any better, she was torturing herself with guilt the entire time," Klaus's voice said from the doorway.

"No, it really doesn't," Brady said slowly.

Caroline could tell that he was still in shock, though she was surprised at how well he was taking it. "Look, I know you're hurt, but–"

"_Hurt? _You people are telling me that my parents are being blackmailed by some crazy crime ring and that you swooped in to save us and destroy the drugs–"

"Actually, we were going to kill you all, but Caroline lobbied for recruiting you. "

"Oh, well, glad she cared enough to not let me _die_," Brady said sarcastically.

"She saved your life, and those of your parents," Finn said quietly. "I understand that this will be an uncomfortable transition, but–"

"Finn, shut up a minute," Caroline said irritably, before turning to Brady. "Look, this blows. Okay? I know. I was in your position less than a year ago. My parents died, and Stefan―Stu for you, I guess―basically dragged me off without telling me anything. It is a huge adjustment, and it sucks. And I'm not going to give you a lecture about how at least you have your parents, or to look at the bright side, because that won't help anything.

"Your parents will be home tonight, and they'll hopefully choose to go to the safe house, but they don't have to. You're old enough to make your own choice. Do you want some time to think about it?"

"I don't want to die."

"You don't have to."

He let out a shuddering breath and Caroline realized that he was trying hard not to cry. She fought back the urge to hug him and instead waited for him to choose.

"I'll go to the safe house."

She smiled softly. "Good. Klaus, did you find everything?"

"I took all the cameras down and got everything on the top floor. Stefan's working on destroying the lab, but we're bringing the notes back to base."

She nodded before turning to Brady again. "All right. Why don't we go pack."

"I don't need your help," he snapped.

She shrugged. "Well, someone has to watch you whether you like it or not. Would you rather than it was Finn?"

He glared at her, but nodded.

"All right, give Caroline your phone then, please," Finn said, standing up.

Brady pulled out his phone and handed it to Caroline.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"It isn't worth anything," Brady said quietly, before turning around to go to his room with Finn. Caroline sat back down on the couch, and Klaus came to sit beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. They sat in silence until Brady's parents came home, at which point they sat them down and explained the situation.

Brady's mother cried, and his father sat there in stony silence. Caroline sighed in relief when all three of them chose the safe house, and Brady's mother gave her a sharp look.

Finn was flying with the Amells out of state, though he couldn't tell them where, and Caroline and Stefan headed back to the apartment to pack up.

**XXX**

"I'm a terrible person."

They had finished packing and were waiting for Finn to send them an email with their airline tickets. He was rusty on the handler stuff, apparently, and Caroline had to restrain a huff when she realized that they couldn't leave yet because Finn was disorganized.

"No, you're not. Everyone in the organization does this–"

"So we're _all _terrible people."

He slowly got up from his seat on the chair in the corner, setting his laptop aside and sat down next to her on the couch. Should he put his arm around her? She looked like she was in need of comfort, but he somehow felt that it would not be welcomed.

He ran through the possible options, deciding that the most intimate physical response he was positive that she would accept was putting his hand on her knee, so he did. She covered it with her own, and he gave himself a mental pat on the back at the accomplishment.

"Don't say that you're a terrible person. You're not. The fact that you are so unhappy about this and that you fought so hard to make the situation positive shows that you're a good person."

"But I still have to hurt him. He'll still be hurt because of me."

"He's young. He'll get over it," Klaus said decisively.

It was true. Brady was eighteen, and they'd dated for two weeks. As he understood it, his information coming from how Caroline and Stefan talked about high school, your perception of time in relationships changed as you became an adult, and the boy would turn out fine. It was ultimately a small period of time in his life, even though it would feel like longer to him now.

Klaus's phone vibrated, and he glanced at it before standing up.

"That was Finn. Do you have everything?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah. I think so."

"Good. Let's go."

**XXX**

Stefan heard footsteps from the inside of the house, and Bonnie wrenched open the door. "Kol, I tol–Oh. Stefan, hey. When did you get back?"

"About twenty minutes ago. It's still the fourteenth for about ten minutes. You can tell me what Kol did to make you angry at him on Valentine's Day tomorrow."

Bonnie snorted and moved aside before following Stefan up the stairs and parting from him to go to her room.

Stefan walked into Rebekah's room quietly and put his hand gently on her shoulder, immediately moving aside to dodge whatever reflexive attack she'd throw at him.

"Stefan!"

"Hey," he said softly. "It's still the fourteenth for a few minutes. Am I too late?"

She shook her head and scooted over slightly to let him climb in next to her. He kicked off his shoes and slid in, still in his jeans, letting Rebekah snuggle into him. "I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning," she said.

"You didn't know that I was coming home."

"I still shouldn't have done it," Rebekah said, adding, "Just agree with me,' when Stefan opened his mouth to reply.

He smiled. "You're right, Rebekah."

They were quiet for a few minutes before Stefan spoke again. "I love you."

"Remember the first time you said that?"

"Are we really doing the hopeless-romantic-trip-down-memory-lane?"

She glared at him.

"Okay, okay, fine. Yes, I do."

"You're terrible at this."

He shrugged. "Yeah. You might have said that before."

She rolled her eyes.

* * *

_**March 18, 2009**_

"_All right. Ready, you two?" Alaric asked._

"_Yeah," Stefan mumbled while Rebekah nodded enthusiastically, bouncing on the balls of her feet._

_It was their first field simulation, and Stefan was nervous. Rebekah looked like she had been waiting her whole life for this (which, really, she had). _

_There was a branch of the Caves that could only be entered through one door, which was used for training. While the layout stayed the same, it was the job of the security branch to move the cameras around before each new simulation and set up new obstacles. Usually field agents "graduated" in groups every few years. This year, it was Stefan, Damon, Rebekah, Kol, Tyler, Katerina, and Elena. _

_They were being paired up and sent in. Each pair had half an hour to complete their mission, which was a simple target mission. They had to find the "target" and "kill" them. Jeremy had volunteered to be the target for the day, and he had a gun with soft paint bullets, and was supposed to walk around the caves without a set pattern. _

_Rebekah and Stefan were each equipped with two training knives, a gun with rubber bullets, and a basic first aid kit. It was an automatic fail if either agent "died." Not finishing the mission was better than an agent dying._

_Failure meant cleaning up._

_No one liked cleaning up._

_Stefan took a deep breath and waited for Alaric to start the stopwatch. _

_He heard the click, and he and Rebekah crept through the door hand-in-hand._

"_There's a camera over there," Rebekah said quietly, gesturing to a camera with a red stripe in the far corner that was rotating slowly._

_They moved to the wall out of its line of sight. Alaric took off a point for every time an agent is caught on a striped camera (there were others in the halls, but they were used to monitor the tests and for grading)._

_They crept slowly through the hallways, mindful of time, and Stefan threw out an arm to stop Rebekah from moving when they heard a rustle to their left. They both put a hand on their gun holster and froze, waiting for the footsteps to approach. Rebekah moved slightly and her gun clattered against the wall, making a loud smacking sound, and she swore as Stefan backed up slightly. _

_Jeremy came around the corner, gun up, and immediately took a shot at Rebekah and hit her on her abdomen right under her breasts, but Stefan shot Jeremy in the stomach twice, causing the other boy to throw his hand over his face dramatically stick his tongue out and fall to the floor, complete with twitching leg and shuddering last breath._

_Stefan restrained a laugh as he bent over Rebekah, who was lying on the floor fingering her shirt that now had a giant orange paint stain. Stefan bent over her with his first aid kit and sighed. "Your shirt needs to come off."_

"_No, you pervert."_

_Stefan rolled his eyes and pulled out the gauze that he was supposed to press on the wound until it soaked up as much paint as possible (which was how they determined whether the agent "lived" or "died")._

"_Bekah, shirtless or dead. Pick one."_

_She glared at him._

"_I am not failing because you're worried I'll feel you up during a simulation test, especially since we got to second base two days ago."_

"_Second base? What?"_

"_Baseball metaphor for relationship landmarks. Tell you later. Pull your shirt up so I can see the paint or we'll fail."_

_She sighed and pulled her shirt up past her bra so that Stefan could dab at her "wound."_

"_Stefan," she squealed as she wiggled away from the cold cloth he was trying to put on her chest._

"_Rebekah. I love you, I really do. Stop moving. I don't want to clean up today."_

_She froze. "You love me?"_

"_If I say it again will you hold still?" Stefan asked irritably as he pressed down with the cloth._

"_That might have been the least romantic 'I love you' that has ever happened," Rebekah grumbled._

_Stefan shrugged, pulling her shirt back over her stomach, pulling out the remote button to say that they were done and hitting it._

"_And I love you too," Rebekah said, her voice casual, though he heard the underlying tremble of insecurity, and gave her a bright smile, which she returned._

"_Listen, you guys are nauseatingly cute and everything, but I can't leave until you do, and I have stuff to do."_

"_Like Tyler-watching?" Rebekah said mischievously. _

_Jeremy snorted. "Not that it's any of your business, but we're going to a movie."_

"_Didn't Mason nearly catch you guys the other day?" Rebekah asked, sitting up against the wall and holding out a hand for Stefan to pull her up._

"_I wouldn't say 'catch' so much as walking in and telling us that we were on our own for dinner because the game's on, and also that it was about time."_

"_Well it was," Stefan muttered, grabbing Rebekah's hand as they walked out._

* * *

**February 14th, 2013**

"The important thing was that I said it, not _how_ I said it."

Rebekah snorted, dropping a kiss on his lips before flipping them over so that she was straddling him. "If we start before midnight, we still technically celebrated."

"I'll celebrate with you even if it's not Valentine's Day," he said.

She put her hand over her mouth to conceal her giggles. "Stefan, just...just stop."

He ran his fingers through her hair, smiling at her. "You love it."

She schooled her face into a serious expression, and he had to restrain a grin at what he knew was coming.

"Take your shirt off or I'll kill you."

"Wouldn't want that, would we?"

* * *

**February 15th, 2013**

"I'm glad you're home," Sage said quietly, leaning her forehead on her husband's shoulder.

It was very early morning, and Katya and Dmitri had finally gone to bed. When Sage had (rather foolishly in retrospect) told the kids that Finn was on his way home, they refused to go to sleep until he got back.

As a result, she was not looking forward to when they woke up.

"As am I."

Sage smiled slightly. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Katya wants to learn Aramaic."

Finn snorted. "Katya also wanted a pony when she was five, it doesn't mean that it's going to happen."

"It will unless we can talk her out of it."

Finn winced. "I'll speak to Niklaus."

"Please do."

"And Dmitri?"

"Spanish."

Finn nodded. "Good."

She hadn't realized how anxious she'd been for the past few weeks until that moment, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it. She hadn't signed up to take care of Katya and Dmitri while he was on the field, not knowing if he'd come home or not.

_He's a handler. He'll be safe._

"I missed you," he said quietly. "I spent an obscene amount of time trying not to call."

Sage laughed quietly. "I missed you, too."

**XXX**

"What are we _doing?_" Caroline asked again.

Klaus smirked. He'd spent the morning making sure he had everything he needed, and, though he would never admit it to her out loud, mentally thanked Sage for making him take classes as a child.

"I hate surprises," she continued, making him laugh.

"Yes, love. I know."

"Then why won't you _tell _me?"

He took her hand to help her down the steps to the caves through the entrance near Jenna's office and led her to the room closest to the stairs. Opening the door for her.

"You were Miss Whitmore."

She nodded. "Yeah. I know. I was there."  
"It had a dancing portion, correct?"

He resisted the urge to smile at her raised eyebrows. "Are you...are you going to _dance _with me?"

"Well, that would depend on you. Would you like to dance, love?"

"Yes. What are we dancing to?"

"What dances do you know?"

She laughed. "Aren't you supposed to know everything about me?"

"I know that you took ballet for a number of years, and that the dance you were required to learn for the pageant was a very old waltz."

"Then yeah, that's it."

"I can teach you another."

"Seriously? You dance?"

He gave her an offended look.

"What can you do?" she asked, smirking.

He had a feeling he knew where her mind was going. "Not the tango. I was never fond of it, and as what dance is generally used for is to blend in at parties, and not stand out, it's not exactly the optimal choice. Waltz?"

She smiled and nodded, and he picked up his mp3 player and set it to a classical arrangement Sage had used to pound the steps into his head.

He held out a hand.

_Thank the lord for Rebekah and her terrible movie taste._

He was in the middle of preparing to twirl her when she abruptly ripped her hands out of his and cupped his face, kissing him roughly, thrusting her tongue into his mouth, pressing herself against him.

Surprised by the sudden shift in the course of events, he gripped her waist almost instinctively, responding to her, already feeling himself growing hard against her hip. She bit him harshly on the jaw before her lips descended to his neck, leaving her marks on his skin.

"This dancing has been great, and everything. Really romantic," she mumbled in between kisses, "But I want you."

She pushed him backwards and he let her, let her press him against the wall with her hands on his chest and her lips on his neck, let her attack him with hot wet biting kisses, let her take control.

And he let himself like it.

And that scared him.

He gripped her wrists again, reversing their positions, pinning them over her head with one hand, the other yanking down the zipper to her strapless dress, freeing her uncovered breasts and brushing a thumb over one of her nipples, causing it to pucker and her to arch her back into him. He captured her lips with his, restraining a smirk at how clearly she wanted him, and she responded, letting his tongue plunder her mouth, surprising him by sucking on it lightly, making him grind his length into her thigh.

He let go of her wrists to cup both of her breasts. "Keep them there," he growled in her ear when she started to move her arms.

She shivered.

He smirked.

He tugged her dress down her hips, letting it fall to the floor, and peeled off his shirt, throwing it to the side, leaving her in only her lace thong and high heels, and grabbed her wrists again, pulling her to him and sliding arm behind her back and the other under her knees to lift her up, causing her to put her hands on his shoulders for balance. "Klaus, what are you–"

He put her down on front of the table where the mp3 player had been sitting (which was now cracked on the floor, courtesy of Klaus's impatience), tugged off her shoes, letting them clatter to the floor, and sliding the last piece of clothing blocking him from her naked body down her legs. He grasped her knees, pulling her forward to balance on the edge and then pushing her knees apart to bury his face between her thighs.

She threw her head back and moaned loudly, spreading her legs wider for him, trying to invite his tongue to do more than swipe teasingly at her folds. When she tried to grind her pussy against his tongue he smirked and withdrew slightly to nip at the insides of her thighs, making her whine.

He kept one hand on her knee, the other moving to brush his thumb over her clit, smirking when she moaned loudly. Burying a finger into her dripping pussy, he started to bite the soft skin of her thighs more noticeably. He liked the way it looked, his marks prominent against her creamy skin, claiming her.

He added another finger and began to move them, hooking them slightly once he found the spot that made her grind her pussy against his hand, her thighs widening more as she tried to make more contact.

"Klaus, please."

"Please what?" he mumbled against her skin as he continued to create small red splotches.

He bit her more harshly as he let his hand move a little to brush against her clit as he fingerfucked her, and felt him grow even harder at the sound she made, rough and needy and low and just for_ him_.

"Please...I don't know. I need…"

"Need what?" he asked, now just wanting to hear her say it.

"You."

"How do you need me, love?"

"I need you to stop teasing."

"And how am I supposed to do that when I don't know what you want?"

He could have sworn he heard her growl. "I want your face in between my thighs and I want to come on your tongue. Is that what you wanted to–_Fuck."_

His tongue was already working inside her, lapping up her juices in hard, rough strokes. His hands were behind her calves, pulling her so that she was teetering just on the edge of the table, her pussy rubbing against his mouth as he pleasured her with his tongue.

She was making the most delicious sounds, and he flicked his eyes up to see her breasts bouncing as her chest heaved with her harsh breaths, her moans echoing around the room.

"I'm so close," she panted, grinding herself on his face as though for emphasis.

He flicked his tongue to swirl around her clit, his fingers thrusting into her again, and he felt her before she screamed out for him, her pussy squeezing his fingers as she came.

His cock was straining uncomfortably against his jeans, and he couldn't resist stroking himself as he stood, tugging off the rest of his clothing while she recovered from the intensity of her release, and she squeaked as he grabbed her wrists from the table, tugging her up and flipping her over so that her perfect ass was in the air, her wrists pinned to the table with his hands.

"Keep them there," he said again, before letting out a harsh groan as he entered her, gripping her hips and thrusting into her from behind, almost painfully hard inside of her as she spread her legs wider for him and moaned his name.

"Scream for me, love. I want the world to hear how wet you are for me, how much you enjoy my cock in you. I want them to know how much you love it that I fuck you hard and fast, to hear my name fall from your pretty lips."

His balls slapped against her skin as he fucked her, her wet pussy clenching even tighter around his cock, and his fingertips pressed harder into her ass, and he knew there would be light marks in the morning all over her body to remind her of how she'd screamed _his_ name.

And she _was_ screaming, writhing under him, her palms having never moved from where he bid her to rest them, but her fingertips stretching, trying to find something on the flat surface to clutch onto.

He ran his fingernails down her ass and the backs of her thighs, and smirked when she moaned even more loudly. He did it again experimentally and felt her clench harder around his cock.

"You like that, love?"

"Yes, keep doing it," she gasped out, moaning out a long string of expletives as he pressed his fingernails into her more harshly.

"I want you to come for me, Caroline."

"So close," she panted.

"Come for me," he ordered.

It must have been the tone that did it as she climaxed around his cock, moaning his name so loudly that he was sure that anyone else in the caves would have heard it if they hadn't already.

"Good girl," he mumbled, almost to himself as he slammed into her even more harshly, desperate for own release, letting him focus on the fact that his marks were all over her body, and that she'd come for _him_.

He gasped out her name as he came inside her, pulling out slightly to coat her inner thighs with it, and felt an immense satisfaction knowing that his come was about to mix with hers and run out of her pussy down her thighs when she stood, and when he took her home she'd feel the slickness of it still, and have to press her legs together to keep it from showing.

Or better yet, it _would_ show.

They both caught their breath and he moved out of his place between her legs to help her up and kissed her, more softly this time. He watched her dress, ignoring her eyeroll at his blatant staring, and smirked when he saw that there were at least four bright red marks visible still, claiming her.

His Caroline.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you liked the chapter :) I'm glad we got to wrap up the Brady storyline, because I'm excited for what comes next :)  
****Hints so far for the mole:  
****1\. It's not a Mikaelson (including Sage)  
****2\. It's not a Salvatore brother  
****3\. It's not Alaric.  
****4\. It's not Jeremy, Tyler, or Kol  
5\. It's not Elena.  
Please give me feedback! It's the only way I get better :)  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	20. Terrible People

**A/N: Hey everyone :) There is something you've been waiting awhile for in this chapter. Please don't hate me. That's all I'll say :P  
If you like Harry Potter, you should totally go read my HP/TVD cross-over fic Diplomacy. Klaroline at Hogwarts? What could possibly go wrong? (Spoiler: a lot).  
Thank you to justanotherfiveminutes and CKHybrid for beta work. Love you both to deathhh.  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**February 15th, 2013**

Caroline was still smiling as she walked through the door to the house that evening. She stayed at Klaus and Stefan's overnight the night before because she hadn't felt like unpacking at her place so this was her first night back.

"Kat! I need to talk to you," she shouted as she closed the door behind her, hanging up her coat on the rack.

"Who's Kat?" April asked, poking her head into the front room.

"Oh my god, April, when did you get here? Why didn't you tell me you were moving in? Are you moving in or just hanging out?" Caroline asked all in one breath, running forward to hug her friend.

"Your old roommate moved in with her boyfriend," April started, but was interrupted by Caroline.

"Kat moved in with Elijah and she didn't tell me? Oh my god, the _bitch_."

April laughed. "Yeah, to be honest she didn't really seem all that friendly when I met her."

"That would be Kat for you."

"She also called you Secret Agent Barbie."

"Damon's fault."

April grimaced. "Dick."

**XXX**

"Katya, I don't know if you're ready for that."

"I don't know why everyone keeps saying that. I passed the French fluency test already with a better score than Dmitri, and everyone's so proud of him for picking Spanish, which is _easy_, and I'm getting punished for picking the hard language. It's not fair."

"Perhaps they think you're biting off a bit more than you can chew, Sweetheart."

"They never told you that."

Klaus sighed, shifting slightly in his chair. He was rather fond of Katya. She reminded him of himself as a child in a lot of ways. She was desperate to prove that she was the best at everything, and had the intelligence and athleticism to back it up. He had told Sage and Finn that he'd try to dissuade her from learning the dead language, but he really hadn't had much intention of doing so.

Any attempt that anyone made to try to convince her to change her mind was certain to have the opposite effect. Even if it didn't, he honestly felt no motivation to limit her. In fact, he knew just the way to motivate her to do more than she thought she was capable of.

It was sad, he thought, how little Sage and Finn knew of how their own child worked.

"I'll offer you a deal," He said, making Katya perk up.

"Okay. What's the deal?'

He smirked. It was good that she knew better than to agree before she heard the terms. "I will teach you to read Aramaic if you work on one of the modern relatives of the language first. As a spoken language, it's almost completely useless. Arabic or Modern Hebrew. Choose."

She gave him a suspicious look. "Do you know either of them."

He smiled. "I know one of them, but I'm not going to influence your choice by telling you which one."

* * *

**February 16th, 2013**

"Katya," Sage called, knocking on the door to Klaus's study in the house he shared with Stefan. "You and Uncle Nik need to wrap it up. It's almost four."

Katya let out a melodramatic sigh and put down her pencil, shoving the paper she'd been writing on towards Klaus.

"Your Dad should have wrapped it up," she mumbled.

Klaus, mostly unsuccessfully, choked back a laugh.

"Has Kol been watching you again?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

He smirked. His niece might be his favorite relative.

**XXX**

"So wait, why are you guys getting married so soon? I thought you were waiting till June. And when is the wedding now, anyway?"

"Tomorrow," Elena said, bracing herself for Hurricane Caroline.

Caroline opened her mouth and closed it again, closed her eyes, counted to ten, and then spoke. "_What?_"

"Damon and I are getting married tomorrow."

"_Why_?"

"Because she got knocked up," Rebekah said from the other side of the room, where she and Katherine were sitting on the couch.

"You're _pregnant?_"

"A little…"

"How can you be a_ little bit_ pregnant? That's a pretty binary option. You're either pregnant or you're not."

Elena sighed. "I'm pregnant, and the wedding's tomorrow. And if you could stop stressing out, Caroline, that would be great, because all you're doing is stressing me out."

"Sorry," Caroline said, slightly chastened.

"It's fine," Elena said tiredly.

"So, what do we need to do before tomorrow night? Don't we like, have to decorate and find a place for the reception and call the catering people…" Caroline trailed off at the badly suppressed smiles on all the other girls' faces (except April, who looked just as confused).

"It doesn't work like that here," Rebekah said.

"What do you mean?"

Elena sighed. "Traveler weddings are different than the weddings you're used to. No one in the organization that was born into it has a birth certificate, so we don't have to file a license, and it wouldn't do us any good since we don't pay taxes or anything like that. A wedding here is a symbol of partnership. It's technically called a commitment, but no one uses the formal name anymore, really, except in the ceremony. I wanted to do a wedding like you're used to since I was a little girl, but Mama would have had a heart attack. Since Mama is...gone...I made some compromises with Papa about it. I get to pick my dress, and we're doing the traditional wedding march before the ceremony, but it won't get more flexible than that, especially on such short notice. We were going to have caterers too, but it's too late now. Damon will probably convince Stefan to help out."

"So what's the actual ceremony like, then?"

"Well, it'll be the big room in the Caves, and everyone on-base is required to be there. We'll all sit in an audience of chairs, and Elena and Damon will stand in front of the members and make their statements. Then, the highest ranked Travelers member on base, so Papa, in this case, will pronounce them partners, they'll exchange new tracker rings, I'll welcome Damon to the family as the most senior Petrova on base, as Papa is already leading the ceremony, and they'll be introduced as Elena and Damon Petrova," Katerina continued.

"Wait, what?" Caroline interrupted. "Damon Petrova? But…"

"The Petrovas are a higher rank, so Damon is marrying up. He'll take the name Petrova, just as Elijah will if he marries Kat. Stefan would take the name Mikaelson if he married me," Rebekah explained. "It has to do with seniority rather than gender. If Tyler and Jeremy were to get married, Jeremy would take the name Lockwood."

"Oh."

"Kol and I could technically take either name, because the Mikaelsons and the Bennetts were founding families," Bonnie added. "We'd probably go with Mikaelson, just because Bonnie Mikaelson sounds better than Kol Bennett."

"Wait, did Kol propose?" Rebekah shrieked, her eyes immediately going to Bonnie's hand.

"No, no of course not," Bonnie said immediately, furiously shaking her head.

"But you're totally thinking about it," Caroline teased.

"Yeah, like you aren't thinking about being Caroline Mikaelson," Katerina said, catching the pencil Caroline threw at her.

"So, out of curiosity, why haven't I met your boyfriend yet, Caroline?" April asked quietly, though Caroline could see that she was mostly teasing.

Caroline opened her mouth and shut it again.

"Because my brother is an unpleasant prick, and Caroline's most likely trying to shield you from the horror of being in his presence."

Caroline rolled her eyes at Rebekah. "No, it's because I haven't gotten around to it. We've all been busy."

"Speaking of 'getting around,' are we doing anything tonight?" Katerina asked her sister, a smirk tugging at her lips.

Elena rolled her eyes. "Nothing like _that,_ but you all can come over for dinner if you want. The house is small, and I know Stefan was planning on coming over anyway."

"And you can bring my brother over as well, and we'll kill two birds with one stone," Rebekah said, smirking.

"I'll see if he's willing to come."

Bonnie snorted. "Just tell him you want to go. He'll do whatever you want."

"It's not like that."

There was a collective set of scoffs and eyerolls from the other girls, making April shoot Caroline a raised eyebrow. Caroline huffed. "Whatever. We'll be there."

**XXX**

"April, this is my boyfriend Klaus."

Klaus held out his hand for April to shake.

So this was the famous April, the third best friend. "It's nice to meet you," she said politely.

"You as well."

Caroline looked between them, apparently waiting for one of them to start talking. When neither of them did, she shot April a look. "What do you do for...this place?" she asked.

"I'm a field agent," he said shortly, wanting to get out of the conversation as soon as possible.

"Oh."

There was another awkward silence, and Caroline huffed. "Can you guys at least pretend to make an effort?"

"My apologies, love. Please, April, tell me about yourself."

He couldn't completely hide the trace of sarcasm in his voice, but he tried.

April snorted. "I grew up with Caroline in Greensboro. I'm a cat person. My favorite color is green. Your turn."

Klaus raised an eyebrow, and saw Caroline trying to hide her smile in his peripheral vision.

"I grew up on-base here learning over three hundred ways to kill someone using common household objects, I drown kittens in my spare time, and my favorite color is blood," he said dryly.

Caroline whacked him in the arm. "Not funny."

"That escalated quickly," April muttered.

"He's joking," Caroline assured her, glaring at Klaus, who shrugged.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, causing her to give him a confused look at the physical affection, but she leaned against him anyway. "Sorry, love."

"It's fine," she said, still looking a bit annoyed with him.

"I need to talk to Stefan. Please excuse me," he said, giving Caroline a quick squeeze with his arm and kissing her lightly on the cheek, pulling away to walk across the room.

"He seems a bit...possessive," he heard April say to Caroline, not even bothering to lower her voice.

"He's protective. Our work is dangerous."

"Sure," April said, sounding skeptical, before changing the subject. "So, is that girl really having Damon's baby?"

"Elena? Yeah."

"Wouldn't that conflict with her work, though?"

"Elena's not a field agent," Caroline explained.

"Field agents can't have kids?"

"Well, we can," Caroline said quietly. "But most of us are on birth control. We're not allowed to go out on the field when we're pregnant."

"But really, though. Damon?"

Caroline laughed. "He's different with her. It's weird."

"Like Klaus is with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I just get this feeling."

"Yeah. I get it."

They were quiet for a minute before April spoke again. "So, you're a field agent, right?"

"Sort of."

"Does that mean you won't have kids?"

He froze, in the middle of sipping from his water glass. Did Caroline want children? He had no interest. At all. He didn't like other people's children, besides perhaps Katya (but even that was a stretch), let alone any he might have.

He would make a terrible father, too, he was sure. He hadn't exactly had a good role model, but besides that, he was perfectly aware that he did not have the patience nor the interest level to adequately care for a child.

"I don't know. Probably not," Caroline said, sounding a little sad.

"Couldn't you retire though? Or whatever?"

"Klaus doesn't want kids."

"You've talked about it?"

Caroline snorted. "No. We haven't been dating long enough. But I know that he doesn't want them. He would hate it."

"How long have you been dating?"

He slowly turned around, wanting to see Caroline's face without her noticing. She was grimacing, but didn't look upset.

"Just a few months."

"Are you sure it's a good decision?"

"What, Klaus, you mean?"

"Well, no offense, Care, but you fall hard and fast. And if he doesn't want what you want…"

"Look, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but I like him, and I'm not ruining my relationship with him for something I'm not sure I want," Caroline said firmly.

He felt his stomach drop. Would Caroline eventually leave him because he didn't want children? That would be inevitable then. But then again, she said she wanted to be with him.

And then again, she hadn't said she was sure, either.

_He _was sure, he knew. He wanted her, and he was willing to do whatever she wanted to keep her in his life.

Mostly.

But children?

He grimaced. He wouldn't-_couldn't_-let her leave. He would have to speak to her about it. He would tell her that he didn't want children, and that they weren't going to have any.

And that would be that.

April was going to be a problem. He could already tell. He needed to find a way to fix that.

He couldn't kill her or threaten her (as that would definitely find its way back to Caroline and he would lose her), but he could try to convert her to his side.

If he made Caroline's best friend like him, then the problem would be solved. Both Caroline and her friend would see things his way, and everything would go back to the way it was supposed to be.

He felt a tug of worry, but quickly suppressed it. She would see it his way, he was sure.

He was vaguely aware that Caroline had moved on to speak to Rebekah, and so when April came up to him, her arms crossed over her chest, he wasn't all that surprised.

"I swear to god, if you hurt her, I will cut your balls off, make a smoothie out of them, and force-feed it to you."

His lips twitched, but he ruthlessly suppressed his laughter.

The girl was barely over five feet tall, probably a hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet, and was about as intimidating as a golden retriever puppy.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, forcing his voice to be serious.

She nodded, still glaring at him. "Good."

"I...apologize for my rudeness earlier."

He could hear a voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Caroline reminding him that making people like you made them want to help you (this reminder had been given multiple times through the last nine months, mostly in relation to customer service people, wait staff, and Stefan).

"It's fine," April said, giving him a stiff smile.

"I understand that you and Caroline went to high school together?"

She nodded. "Yep. Actually, we grew up together. With Stefan, obviously, but after he left we got a lot closer."

He made a noise of agreement, not quite sure what he was supposed to say.

"How did you two meet?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. She didn't look like she was trying to bait him. She just looked curious.

"She's my handler."

April burst into giggles. "Your _what_?"

"My handler," he repeated, not understanding why she thought it was funny.

"What, she _handles _you?"

He blinked. What was this girl, thirteen? _Handling._

"She ensured that Stefan and I would have somewhere to stay while on missions, food to eat, and things like that. She also kept track of where we were and was our connection back to base."

She nodded, a small smirk on her face. "Well, according to most of the people I've met, she _handles _you quite well."

He rolled his eyes, fighting the urge to groan.

"That she does."

* * *

**February 17th, 2013**

Caroline was sitting in the back of the two rows in-between April and Klaus. She gave him an exasperated look and nudged him in the side when she noticed that he had his head lolling back in his seat. He was very clearly bored.

She heard the click of a record player, and Elena walked down the aisle in her giant puff-pastry-like wedding dress. She looked beautiful.

Once she reached the front, someone switched off the music with a click. The two promised compromises having been satisfied, Elena stood with Damon at the front of the room, Silas in between them, with a huge smile on her face. All three of them joined hands, forming a triangle.

Elena had reiterated before the ceremony to Caroline and April that the wedding would be different than what they were used to, and to stay silent and observe since they didn't know the traditions. She promised to go over them afterwards if they were curious. She did give them some basic information though, including telling them that they would stay seated the whole time.

"We come together as an extended family today to express and acknowledge two Commitments, one between our family and one between two people. We form the Expression Triangle as a symbol of the unbroken connection between these Commitments. We are Travelers."

"We are family," The entire room chanted together, making Caroline start in surprise.

"I speak for us."

"We acknowledge," the room chanted.

"I ask for your statements."

"I, Elena Lilyana of the Petrova line, swear loyalty first and foremost to the Travelers."

"We acknowledge," Silas said.

"I, Elena Lilyana of the Petrova line, swear loyalty secondly to my partner."

"We acknowledge," Silas repeated.

"I, Damon Giuseppe of the Salvatore line, swear loyalty first and foremost to the Travelers."

"We acknowledge."

"I, Damon Giuseppe of the Salvatore line, swear loyalty secondly to my partner."

"We acknowledge."

It seemed vaguely cult-like to her, to be frank, especially the fact that they swore loyalty to the organization first and their partner second, but she decided to talk about that with Stefan later.

"A ring is circular; a symbol of an unbreakable bond. By accepting this symbol, you are accepting your obligation as Travelers and as partners."

"We accept," Damon and Elena said together.

All three dropped hands, and Silas picked up a small tray from a side table that Caroline hadn't noticed, holding it out, Damon and Elena each picking up a ring.

"Damon, I give you this ring as a symbol of my commitment to you. We are partners. We are family."

"Always and forever," the people in the room chanted together.

She slipped the ring on Damon's finger, smiling brilliantly.

"Elena, I give you this ring as a symbol of my commitment to you. We are partners. We are family."

It was the first time Caroline had ever heard Damon express a genuine emotion other than anger. His voice was choked up, and the way he looked at Elena made her smile. No matter how much of an asshole Damon was, he made Elena happy, and she could respect that.

"Always and forever."

Katerina stood up from her place in the front, walking to stand beside her sister. "I, Katerina Diana, standing matriarch of the Petrova line, welcome you. You are family."

"Always and forever."

Damon and Elena clasped hands again, giving each other quick smiles before speaking together. "We are Travelers. We are partners. We are family. Always and forever."

And that seemed to be that. Caroline raised an eyebrow at the abrupt ending to the ceremony, giving Klaus a confused look as he tugged her hand to pull her toward the appetizers in the corner. "That was quick."

He shrugged. "We don't really make a huge production out of these things, love. I'm famished. Would you like a spinach roll? Stefan made them."

**XXX**

He kicked himself almost as soon as the words had come out of his mouth. He could tell that she was suspicious.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he said darkly.

"Are you sure? Because you seem a little bit upset."

"I'm fine, Caroline."

"You said you'd be honest with me, remember?"

He gave her a disbelieving look. "Yes, about events, not feelings."

"So you aren't feeling okay?" she asked, smirking at her victory.

He glared at her before sighing. He was silent for a moment, trying to choose his words carefully. "Let's go outside."

She gave him an odd look, but followed him. He grasped her hand and they began to walk down the hall of the caves while he tried to figure out how to word his point. "You are an incredibly competent field agent considering your level of experience. You're strong and you're intelligent. However, you tend to let your feelings get in the way of your tasks."

She glared at him. "If this is about Brady–"

"It is, partly. But it's also about the man you killed a month ago, and your seemingly endless sympathy for others when they're in pain, no matter who they are."

She opened her mouth to respond, obviously defensive, but he spoke over her.

"I'm not trying to imply that it's a negative trait. To be honest, I'm thankful for it. You see the best in me, which I very much appreciate. However, it does not lend itself well to long-term missions. You feel incredibly guilty, and that can hinder your performance."

"I'll get over it," she said tightly.

"No, you won't."

"How do you know?"

He shrugged. "Because if you haven't by now, you won't later."

"That's not true," she said, and he could tell that she was quickly getting angry.

"Caroline, everyone has limits–"

"Yes, I know, but that doesn't give you a right to try to tell me mine."

"I'm not. I'm just saying that you judge yourself very harshly, which isn't fair to you."

"Of course I judge myself harshly, my job is to do bad things," she said, her voice slightly shrill. "And yes, I'm uncomfortable with it. I don't like it, but I'm not going to give up. I probably won't ever get over what I've done, but I can't quit now. I don't quit at things. I can't have a job here without being a terrible person, so I'm just going to have to deal with being terrible."

Klaus sighed. "Caroline, you're not a terrible person."

"Oh, yeah, because you're such a great judge of whether people are terrible or not," she snapped, before realizing what she'd said, her eyes going wide as she covered her mouth. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that."

Yes, she did. He knew she did. It was written all over her face.

There were some people who, when they were angry, said the things that they knew would hurt the other person the most, whether they were true or not. Rebekah was a prime example of that kind of anger. Stefan had come back from fights before, panicking because of something that Rebekah had said that preyed on his insecurities. She'd mostly grown out of it now, which was good, as it made living with Stefan much easier.

Honestly though, the other type of anger was far worse, in his opinion. Some people just lost their mental filter, and just spewed out whatever they were thinking without thinking it through. It was possible to rationalize that a person in the first category was lying, but a person who lost their filter when angry...Everything they said was how they felt, they just didn't want to acknowledge that they were feeling it (or didn't want to tell you).

He knew that he was a bit emotionally stunted, and he didn't like acknowledging the fact that he had feelings, especially feelings that involved caring for other people. Unfortunately, with a few people, the figurative "feelings ship" had sailed. There was no denying that there were some people that had the power to hurt him.

For a very long time, it was only Sage and Rebekah. Sage was the mother figure that he'd never had before she came into his life, and he felt an odd attachment to the woman. He cared what she thought of him (to a point).

Rebekah was the only sibling he'd had that seemed to care for him without condition or reason. If he lost her approval, he would be disappointed in himself. It would be a blow, but not a crippling one.

Sage and Rebekah were battleships. They had the best weapons and they could use them, but they had weaknesses, and they were replaceable.

If battleships sank...Well, war was war. Shit happens.

Caroline, though...She was his Titanic. She was beautiful, practically indestructible...an unsinkable ship.

But everyone knows how the story of the Titanic ends. It's inevitable. It always sinks. The ending is set in stone. Doomed for failure.

If he stayed, he would only ruin her. Drag her down. Extinguish the light within her.

She was safer without him.

She was even saying as much to him now.

"Yes. You did," he said tightly.

She was his Titanic. He was the iceberg.

* * *

**February 18th, 2013**

"Are you saying that because you want to protect her, or because you truly believe that she isn't doing well?"

"She isn't ready. She's angry at herself, and it's tearing her apart."

"Are you sure that you're not projecting?" Silas asked.

Klaus gave him an incredulous look, causing Silas to sigh and nod.

"Right. Well, to be quite honest I agree with you. Someone else came to me and said something similar."

"Finn?"

Silas ignored his question. "I'll call her in and tell her that she's not doing anymore long term missions unless she can get her emotions under control."

Klaus winced. He did not envy Silas.

"Do I have to attend the meeting?"

Silas shook his head. "No, though you're going out on a short term later this week. Shall I tell her before or after?"

"Before," Klaus said decisively. "The longer you keep it from her, the more angry she'll be."

"I'll have her come in later today."

"We shall meet again later in the week, then," Klaus said, starting to stand, but Silas motioned for him to sit back down.

"I have another thing we need to talk about."

Klaus nodded impatiently.

"I think that your father is still alive."

Klaus stilled, his mind running too quickly to keep track of his thoughts. "What is the significance of that?" he bit out.

"We think that he is going to attempt an assassination."

"Well, I wish him luck on that endeavor. Many have tried, none have succeeded," Klaus said dryly, though he still felt paralyzed for some reason.

Why was he so anxious? Under normal circumstances he wouldn't be worried at all. He could handle himse–

"You think he'll come after Caroline."

"It's a possibility," Silas acknowledged.

"Then she has to stay on-base. She can't go on missions," Klaus said immediately.

"I'm afraid that's not an option."

"What do you mean it's _not an option_?"

"If we keep anyone, especially someone known to be close to you, on base under lockdown, whoever is feeding him information will know that we know. We can't risk that at this point."

"Fine," he spat out through gritted teeth. "Is the mission low-risk?"

Silas nodded.

"Good. Please excuse me."

He stood up and left without waiting for Silas's response, slamming the office door behind him.

* * *

**February 22nd, 2013**

Caroline took a deep breath, her hand on the gun attached to her belt. It was a quick job. Disable the cameras, walk in, shoot target, walk out. The reason they'd been assigned to it was because there was a possibility of the target having company.

Well, that and Caroline was apparently no longer allowed on long-term missions.

She hadn't spoken to Klaus for the last few days, since Silas had told her. She knew that Klaus had something to do with it, and though she did feel guilty for what she'd said to him, she was more angry at him than anything else.

Klaus held a finger to his lips and motioned for them to follow him. They crept into the building, and when they turned the first corner they saw a man in a security suit. Klaus raised the gun to shoot him, but the security guard happened to be next to what looked like a fire alarm.

Klaus didn't get the shot off before the siren started blaring.

Stefan swore, and the three of them started running to the staircase, hoping the target wouldn't be in a position to evacuate quickly.

They found him walking quickly down the hall towards the staircase with two bodyguards, all three of them clutching guns.

The security guards both shot, but missed as Caroline and Stefan threw themselves to the wall. The target was running in the opposite direction, and Caroline made a split second decision that she would later regret.

Klaus and Stefan were trying to hit the bodyguards, who were wearing protective gear, and Caroline ran after the target, surprising the security guards enough to move past them. Barely registering Klaus's angry yell, she shot the target in the back midstep.

_See? I'm perfectly capable of doing this._

Almost as soon as the thought was formed in her mind, she felt a blinding pain in her side and fell to the floor.

There were gunshots and rushed footsteps, and she stayed conscious to see Stefan bending over her, his hands holding her wound stable, while Klaus swore at Finn over their communication devices.

"Caroline, it'll be okay," she heard Stefan say quietly.

She felt the prick of a needle in her arm and her vision went blurry before she lost consciousness.

**XXX**

"They had a fight, and she's injured," the traitor said. "I saw them take her to the hospital this morning."

"How badly?"

There was silence over the line before the traitor spoke again. "They say that she'll wake, and probably fully recover, but I doubt he'll let her out of his sight anytime soon, no matter how bad their fight was. He's been sitting in her hospital room next to her since they brought her in. He won't leave, and obviously no one can make him."

"Interesting."

"He's vulnerable right now. It would be easy–"

"Not yet," Mikael interrupted.

"But it's the perfect time. He's tired and weak. It would be easy to kill him."

"I don't want to kill him. I want him to stay alive with nothing left to live for."

"That makes no sense."

"Well, you don't make the plans, I do. And currently, all I want is for you to keep an eye on the girl. Keep me updated on her condition. Katerina should be willing to indulge your curiosity, I'm sure."

"She'll figure it out soon."

"Well, make sure she doesn't."

"I can't help it. How am I supposed to get information from her if she's suspicious? If I try she'll just get more suspicious."

"It's not my job to tell you how to do it. I don't care about your methods, I just want results."

"But–"

"Look, do you want Tyler to live at the end, or not? Because I'm perfectly content with either option."

"No. I'll do it," Mason said tiredly. "I'll call you in a few days."

"See that you do."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Oh look, now we know who the mole is! A lot of you got it right (go you!).  
I was hoping that it would all completely make sense once you saw who it was, so let me know if I accomplished that ;)  
Also, thoughts on anything else in the chapter? How do we feel about the Klaroline fight? About Caroline's injuries? Are we looking forward to Delena no longer being very useful in this fic now that their function has been fulfilled (look at this, JP, I can make baby plot devices, too!)?  
Let me know what you think in reviews! I need feedback :D :D**

**Some of you have been asking when Home will be updated. The answer is that I have no idea. It'll happen, but right now I'm writing A LOT of things, and Home is slightly on the back-burner, just because I have so much other stuff to do. It'll come out soon though, I promise. :)**  
**Check me out on tumblr (thetourguidebarbie) and on polyvore.**  
**Hugs!**  
**-Angie**


	21. Making Amends

**A/N: Hey everyone! :) Thank you so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! You guys are so amazing!**

**I posted something about this on tumblr, but a lot of you don't follow me, so I'll just say it here, too. There was some concern over Caroline's recent Elena behavior (and I assume that it was shared by others who didn't review as well, since that chapter had 15 less than the last one?), and I just want to clear up that I knew, that was purposeful, and she'll be over it soon (and by "soon" i mean this chapter).**

**This chapter has a scene that was requested by quite a few people a couple chapters ago (it involves an outfit Caroline may or may not have picked up during a mission), as well as a very important confession from Klaus.**  
**Thank you justanotherfiveminutes &amp; CKHybrid for beta work.**  
**Enjoy!**  
**-Angie**

* * *

**February 23rd, 2013**

He had been sitting there for over ten hours, just holding Caroline's hand, his eyes fixed on her pale face.

She had lost a lot of blood, but he had been assured by Bonnie that she would wake, and it was just a matter of time. After she woke, she'd have to stay for observation for a week or so, just to make sure the serum worked and there were no side effects, and after that she was free to go back to work.

Well, theoretically she was, but Klaus had no intention of letting her back on the field for a long time, if ever.

He heard the click of the door and whirled around to face the intruder, his hand flying towards the clipboard resting on the bedside table as a makeshift weapon. Sage entered, her hands up in the air, eyes wide. "It's just me."

He nodded, setting the clipboard back down and fusing his palm to Caroline's again.

"You know, you can go take a shower and change your clothes. She probably won't wake in the next fifteen minutes."

He glared at her, and Sage just sighed and snatched the clipboard out of Klaus's hand. "Let me check her over. If anything happens I'll send Bonnie to come get you no matter how naked you are. You can use the suite bathrooms near my office."

He didn't move.

"Klaus…"

"I'm not leaving her."

"Suit yourself," Sage said, sighing, before edging around him to inspect the monitor linked to Caroline's arm.

It took less than five minutes for Sage to be completely satisfied with all of her findings. Before she left, she told Klaus that she'd send Katya along with brunch later that morning, since he was perfectly capable of tutoring her in a hospital room with his unconscious girlfriend present, and that he was welcome to get some sleep on the spare bed on the other side of the room.

A few hours later he was getting tired, and though he knew he could easily stay up for at least another half day without his reflexes suffering, he pushed the spare bed towards Caroline's to set them together and climbed in, fully clothed, grabbing her hand in his and just watching her.

He ran a finger down Caroline's cheek. She didn't stir, but he was glad he could see her breathe. When he'd seen her fall in the hallway, he felt like he was in a movie on a scratched disc. Caroline seemed to be frozen in midair for a few moments before she was suddenly lying in a heap on the ground, though he knew that he must have just been in shock.

He'd never felt anything like that in his life. He could almost feel his chest constrict again. It had taken him from the moment Stefan knocked her out with the serum until they got into the van Finn brought around while he clutched her hand in his to name it.

Terror.

Absolute terror.

He shifted on his side of their joined bed, watching the rise and fall of Caroline's chest and realized that he had a much more familiar feeling welling up inside his chest.

He was absolutely fucking furious with her.

* * *

**February 25th, 2013**

Bonnie opened her eyes to a repetitive banging against the front door of the house she shared with Rebekah.

"Bonnie!" Kol shouted through the door.

She groaned and rolled over, tugging the sheets up over her head.

"_Bonnie!_"

It was an accomplishment, she decided, that he could make himself heard through a solid-wood door and up a flight of stairs.

"Bonnie, I know you're home."

She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Maybe then she wouldn't have to talk to him.

"Bonnie, you have ten seconds before I come in whether you like it or not."

She pulled a pillow over her head and counted down the seconds, sighing in relief when she didn't hear the door open, figuring that Kol must have left. She squeaked loudly as the blankets were abruptly pulled off of her body.

Fucking assassins and their ability to be completely silent when they break into your fucking house.

She asked for years how he managed to sneak into her house like a stalker, but he'd just tell her that a magician never reveals their secrets. Rebekah eventually told her that Kol had convinced her to grease all the hinges and make sure that they would be silent (Bonnie hadn't spoken to either of them for a week).

"Go away."

He rolled his eyes and kicked off his shoes, preparing to get into bed with her. She rolled over and stretched across her mattress like a starfish, glaring at him.

"Really, Bonnie?"

She didn't answer, opting to turn her head away and ignore his existence.

She heard him huff before she was unceremoniously picked up and moved to the other edge of the bed, Kol sitting on the edge but not laying down, apparently trying to be respectful of her space.

And failing.

"Bonnie…"

"Leave, Kol. Really."

"Not until you hear me out. You practically shoved me out the door last week and barely talked to me since."

"We talked at Elena and Damon's wedding."

"Yeah, for about three seconds. Look, I'm sorry, Darling, all right?"

* * *

**_February 14th, 2013_**

"_Where are you?" Bonnie demanded as Kol picked up his phone._

"_I'm at Alaric and Jenna's."_

"_Why are you at Alaric and Jenna's?"_

"_They asked me to watch Summer, remember?"_

"_You said that was this weekend," Bonnie said, closing her eyes briefly._

_Did he really _forget_?_

"_Yeah, because their date night is usually on Sunday. I guess they changed their mind this week for some reason."_

_He did._

_He forgot Valentine's Day._

"_Kol...Do you know what today is?"_

"_Not Sunday, I know."_

"_You're joking, right?" she asked, trying to keep the anger out of her voice._

_There was silence on the other end of the line for a few moments and then Kol groaned._

"_I'm sorry, Darling. I forgot."_

"_Clearly."_

"_We'll do it later this weekend. I'll get Stefan to bake you a cake and everything, all right?"_

_Wait, what?_

"_What are you talking about, Kol?"_

"_Your birthday party?" he half-asked, sounding honestly bewildered by her anger. "I'm sorry I was gone for it this year–"_

"_You're unbelievable."_

"_Why are you so angry, Darling? I know it was more than a week ago–"_

"_You. Are. Unbelievable."_

_They'd had her party, and she'd told Kol that it wasn't a big deal, since she really hated her birthday anyway, and he was the one who always wanted to make everyone celebrate their birthdays._

_He had a thing about birthdays, she still wasn't sure what it was. She suspected it was the excuse to force someone to wear tacky paper party hats._

"_Darling, calm down. I don't understand what–"_

"_Go look at a calendar," she snapped, hanging up on him._

_She flopped down on her bed, setting her cell phone on the bedside table, then rubbing her eyes with her palms, trying to tune out Rebekah's sniffles from the room next to hers. When it became apparent that Rebekah wasn't going to stop feeling sorry for herself anytime soon, Bonnie sighed and walked down the stairs to watch a movie._

_Thorn had just discovered that Soylent Green was people when the doorbell rang, and she paused the movie to open it, knowing exactly who would be on the other side._

"_I'm sorry, Bonnie."_

_He really did look kind of pathetic standing on her doorstep, his shoulders slumped and his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. She just glared at him._

_Let it never be said that Bonnie Bennett could not hold a grudge._

"_I'm sure you are," she said coolly, letting her hand rest on the doorknob._

"_Bonnie…"_

"_I don't want to talk to you right now, Kol."_

"_Don't you think you're overreacting just a tad?" he asked, before wincing._

_The look on her face could not have been nice._

"_I don't know, am I?"_

_He screwed up his face slightly, apparently debating his choices in ways to answer, before saying simply, "No, probably not. I'm really sorry, Darling."_

_She looked at the porch light, trying not to get sucked in by the patented Mikaelson sad-eyes._

"_Look, we'll talk later, okay? I don't feel like it right now."_

_He opened his mouth to respond, frowning, but she shut the door before he could. There was a barrage of knocking that lasted for about three minutes straight before it stopped for a few minutes, and then began again, but more softly._

_She opened the door, prepared to tell him that she really was serious and he needed to leave. _

_"Kol, I tol–Oh. Stefan, hey. When did you get back?"_

* * *

**February 25th, 2013**

"Whatever."

"Bonnie. I have been trying to talk to you for more than a week. Every day."

"Yeah, pro tip, the amount of voice messages that you leave me does not have a direct correlation with the likelihood that I will return your calls."

He blinked. "I don't know half of those words, but I'm going to assume you meant that if I bother you, you won't want to talk to me."

"Basically."

He rolled his eyes and flopped down next to her, avoiding her outstretched limbs, apparently deciding that the whole sitting-on-the-edge-of-her-bed-and-respecting-her-space strategy was not working out all that well.

She sighed and turned on her side to look at him, and found him doing the same.

"It's not that you forgot," she admitted quietly.

"I know."

"I hate her. I hate how she calls me every year on my birthday and makes me feel terrible because I don't want to talk to her. I hate how she ruins my entire month."

"You're perfectly within your rights to not want to talk to her, you know."

"I know, but...She's my mom."

"Maybe you should talk to Sheila or Ayana about it."

"Maybe," she mumbled, though both of them knew that she was just trying to make him stop talking.

"I really am sorry, though, Bonnie."

"Thanks."

* * *

**February 28th, 2014**

Klaus heard a sharp squeak from the bedsprings next to him and his eyes flew open. He turned to see Caroline covering her eyes with her palm. "Hold still," he said immediately, getting up to yell for Sage.

Sage arrived quickly and began to inspect Caroline, asking if she was in any pain, and a variety of other questions that Klaus barely listened to, his gaze completely fixed on Caroline's pale face.

"How long have I been out?" she asked quietly, as soon as Sage had stopped poking her with various medical instruments for the moment.

"A little less than a week."

They looked at each other, and Klaus shifted, trying to figure out what to say. He honestly would like nothing better than to give her the longest lecture possible on how absolutely idiotic she'd been, throwing herself in front of a bullet for no reason like she had.

"Sage says you must stay here for a week for observation, and you may leave next Friday," he said instead.

"Okay," she said quietly, apparently picking up on his anger.

"Now that you are awake, I'll go home. I'll return tomorrow."

"Wait, what do you mean 'now that I'm awake'? Did you stay here while I was out?"

"The farthest I went was the employee bathroom down the hall," he admitted quietly.

Her eyes widened. "Oh."  
He nodded stiffly. "Indeed."

He shut the door quietly after him as he left, trying to forget that her breath had hitched slightly as he'd turned to leave.

**XXX**

He leaned against the wall of the cell holding Caroline's near-murderer, enjoying watching the man squirm.

"What do you want? I don't know anything," the man said again.

Klaus sank down into the chair opposite his captive, who was straining against the ropes that were binding him. "I've told you. I don't want to know anything you know. I just want to watch you die slowly in a pool of your own blood."

The man seemed to understand that Klaus meant business because he didn't talk again, just eyed the safety pin that Klaus was flipping through his fingers and the jar that he was clutching tightly in his other hand.

Klaus waited a few moments to make sure the man wasn't going to talk and then smirked to himself, unclipping the needle from the rest of the pin.

"This might hurt just a bit," he warned, before dragging the pin slowly down the man's arm, causing tiny beads of blood to well up on his skin.

The man gritted his teeth, apparently determined not to make a sound.

Klaus would change that, he was sure. He continued carving small lines through the man's skin, making him flinch. He got bored of this after about five minutes and unscrewed the lid of the jar, which was filled with a slightly goopy red liquid.

Klaus inhaled slowly as the spicy smell hit his nose, and stuck the pin inside, coating it with the liquid.

"This is tabasco sauce," he said conversationally to the man in the chair. "It may exacerbate the pain of your wounds, but I suppose that's an unfortunate side effect of getting handed to me after you shot my girlfriend."

He trailed the pin over the already open wounds on the man's arm.

The man screamed.

* * *

**March 7th, 2013**

"You will not accompany us on the mission on Tuesday."

"Excuse me?"

He repeated his statement.

"Why?" She asked, her expression somewhere between confusion and anger.

"It's too dangerous," he said simply.

"I don't care how dangerous this is. I can do it. I've had training."

"No, you can't. Mikael is after me, and therefore after you. You're staying here where it's safe."

She leaned toward him with her hands on her hips—the default position of angry girlfriends everywhere—and glared at him. "You can't make me stay here." she spat out. "It's my choice—"

"No it's not," Klaus interrupted, annoyed with her and wondering why she couldn't just do what he told her to do like a normal person would.

Caroline bristled, and Klaus saw April wince from her position on the couch over Caroline's shoulder.

"I beg your pardon?"

He had the sudden impression that he should word his answer very carefully.

"I didn't mean that you had no choice. I meant that, as your superior and the head of our team, I would like you to stay here," he said, hoping that the logic behind his statement made sense to her.

He realized that this was clearly the wrong answer when Caroline drew herself up to her full height, which, though he was a trained assassin and she was still about three inches shorter than him, was somehow incredibly threatening. "Did you seriously just call yourself my superior?"

"Not superior in value. Superior in position. It's my responsibility to do what's best for the team," he said quickly, trying to mitigate the depth of the hole he'd just dug himself.

"Are you seriously saying that…that because you are a higher…rank, or whatever, than me, that I don't get a choice in decisions about my own personal safety?"

Yes, actually, that was exactly what he was saying. Somehow though, he felt that he might want to phrase it a little bit differently to make her understand.

"Caroline, love, I don't want you to get hurt, and I have a higher chance of getting injured myself if I'm constantly worrying about your safety," he said, trying a different angle.

"Are you calling me a liability?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was she twisting his words? The meaning behind his statement was clear, and there was no need for her to be angry.

"No. I'm not. Contrary to what you seem to believe, I do believe that you can do this job. I think that you're perfectly capable. However, this isn't just about _you_, Caroline. It's not just about _your _personal safety. It's about mine, as well as Stefan's and the rest of the organization. The decisions you make impact all of us, love. No matter how good at your job you are, I would still be worried about you, especially after you nearly died because you couldn't follow directions on the field. Your capability is not in question here. What's in question is my ability to perform knowing that you could go off and do something incredibly stupid."

"But we've been on lots of missions together where you were worried about me. How is this any different?"

"Because you've never nearly died," Klaus pointed out angrily, "Yes, you've had guns and knives held to your head, but I always had the situation under control. I can't let that happen again."

Somehow, in less than a year Caroline had become one of the most important things in his life, if not the most important. He needed her, and he wasn't going to let some stupid insignificant thing like death come between them.

"I've nearly died several times, and frankly I don't understand your issue with this. I'm not being personally targeted, and I haven't even been slightly injured in any of the other missions we've done before—"

"Actually, you are being personally targeted. Perhaps it has escaped your notice, but you are important to me, Caroline, and therefore an excellent choice to gain leverage over me," he interrupted angrily.

"I'm fine, Klaus. I don't understand what your problem is. Your sister goes on missions. Your brothers go on missions. You care about them. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" She asked, angry tears forming in her eyes, her voice growing louder with every word.

It was because he couldn't take the risk; he couldn't let her leave him. He _needed_ her.

He needed to make her stay.

"Because I love you," he burst out, not knowing exactly what the word meant or why it was so important to her, because he knew that it was, but hoping it would make her stay, that it would make her understand that he couldn't lose her.

Caroline had gone silent at his words, her eyes wide.

April was completely still on the couch, her mouth open with her eyebrows raised looking about as shocked as Caroline, if not more so.

Caroline closed her eyes briefly.

"Excuse me?"

"I love you," he said again, testing the words on his tongue as they spilled out.

"You're only saying that because you hope that it will make me do what you say," She said quietly, her eyes narrowed.

How did she read him so well?

"No," he insisted, "I'm saying it because it's true. Although, yes, I do hope that the knowledge that I love you _alive _will cause you to stop running into deadly situations with no concern for your own life or how losing you might affect other people."

"I value my own life!"

"Yes, which is why you ran into a situation and got shot in the side instead of following the given directions which, to be frank, would have ended with the exact same result with the only exception being that you nearly died."

_And nearly left me alone._

Her face drained of color, and he almost regretted his outburst.

"I didn't think about it like that."

He opened his mouth to tell her that she didn't think at all, but decided that the comment would be counter-productive, so he settled for a simple, "Well, think about it like that from now on."

He took a step closer to her, taking it as a good sign that she didn't back away. "Caroline, love, I just need you to give me some peace of mind."

"So you want me to stop going on missions? Look, Klaus, I need to do my job," she said softly, though she looked much calmer now, much more willing to listen.

What was it that Stefan said a few months ago? Compromise. He needed to compromise.

"What if you stayed off the field just until Mikael is captured?" He suggested slowly.

She bit her lip. "I don't know, Klaus…That seems—"

"Reasonable?" He interrupted, bringing out the big sad-eyes.

She bit her lip, still looking uneasy. They were nose to nose now, and he let his hands rest on her hips, and she seemed to automatically lean into him. She was coming around, he just needed to pull out the big guns.

"_Please_?"

"Fine," she relented, allowing him to pull her closer, "But just until we get Mikael."

"Good," he said, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling her scent deeply, reflecting that he had a few weeks to convince her to exclusively be a handler, or even just to stay on base, and he planned to make the most of it.

"I love you," he said again, the words tasting sweeter every time he said them.

He felt her smile into his chest, but wasn't concerned that she hadn't said the words back. He was confident that she would soon, and there was no point in rushing it. She pulled back, dropping a light kiss on his lips. He caught her lips again as she began to pull away, letting his hands rest lightly on her waist, their kiss turning heated.

"I'm just gonna go," April said, grabbing her sweater and leaving, closing the front door behind her.

Caroline buried her head in his chest again, apparently having forgotten that April was present.

"Are you feeling better?"

She shrugged. "I mean, it's kind of achy, but–"

"I meant in terms of...feelings...but if you're feeling unwell you should most likely sleep."

She rolled her eyes. "I can make that decision for myself, thanks."

"Suit yourself."

She broke away, squeezing his hand lightly before she let go. "I'm fine, Klaus."

"All right."

"Will you stay the night?" she asked.

She looked hesitant to ask. Did she think that he was still unhappy with her?

"Yes, if that's what you'd like."

"Okay."

He followed her up the stairs and, though she tried to stay up, she was soon snuggled into him, dead to the world.

* * *

**March 8th, 2013**

"Caroline?"

Caroline groaned and rolled over to look at Klaus, who looked faintly amused as he gently shook her awake. "Hi."

"Good morning."

He didn't look angry anymore, and she was happy about that. She really just wanted to forget the entire incident. Looking back she realized how insensitive she was being, and she felt incredibly guilty.

"I'm sorry."

He snorted. "I'm aware."

"Hey, I'm trying to apologize."

"You don't need to."

She bit her lip, nodding. "Okay."

"I'm glad you're safe," he said quietly.

"Me too."

They were comfortably silent for a few moments before Caroline felt compelled to break it. "So, guess what?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"You have to _guess_."

"You don't like those repulsive drinks anymore."

"ICEEs? No, I like those a lot, and I maintain that you should try them."

"You've decided to convert to a tea person."

"You wish."

He sighed. "I don't know then, Caroline. What?"

"Well, before we left California, I picked something up from the post office."

"Did you?" he asked, a smirk stretching across his face.

She nodded, fighting down a smile. "Yep."

"May I see it?"

She pushed the covers back and got out of bed in lieu of an answer, pulling open her closet door. "You should go make breakfast," she said to Klaus over her shoulder as she pushed the hangers aside trying to find what she was looking for.

"Why would I do that when I can just have you?"

She was half-tempted to turn around just so he could see how close she came to pulling a retina with that eye-roll, but instead she just shook her head, laughing quietly.

"Well, I'm hungry, and I need to take a shower and stuff anyway."

"I could take the shower with you?"

"But then there would be no point in me putting the outfit on because I'd already be naked."

"I'm perfectly all right with that."

She laughed. "Out."

He gave her a long-suffering sigh and pulled himself out of bed, leaving the room. She waited until he was gone before grabbing her phone and sending a quick text to April, informing her that she might want to stay at Stefan's place for a bit longer, and took what felt like the world record for the fastest shower.

After she got out and blow-dried her hair, she put it up with a ribbon and wrapped a towel around herself, trying to ignore the smell of bacon wafting from downstairs as she pulled on the cheerleader uniform she'd managed to take with them.

She gave herself a quick once-over in the mirror before heading down the stairs, smiling to herself at the way Klaus's eyes moved over her figure as she perched herself on the chair closest to the stove, where he'd been making breakfast.

He switched off the burners for both of the pans and she frowned.

"Hey, weren't we going to eat?"

"No. I don't want to burn the house down, and there is nothing in this world more revolting than cold eggs."

"Except ICEEs, apparently."

He gave her a brief unimpressed look before his eyes flicked over the creamy skin of her legs, which were crossed in front of her. She grinned as she realized where his eyes were going and uncrossed her legs, spreading them slightly and leaning back with her arms crossed over her chest, pushing her breasts up to peek out of her top.

She stood up and walked to him, reaching past him to pluck a strip of bacon out of one of the pans and took a bite, closing her eyes and letting out an exaggerated moan, chewing it slowly and then licking her fingers, keeping eye contact with him.

He closed his eyes briefly, causing her to smile as she released her index finger from her mouth with a soft popping sound, swirling her tongue around the end for good measure when his eyes opened again.

He groaned, and she reached out past him to take another piece out of the pan, but he caught her wrist.

"Hey," she protested. "I'm still _hungry_."

She felt an intense stab of arousal at his eyes darkening with lust for her, and she felt her skin heat. He tugged her over to the fridge and pressing her against it.

"I'm feeling a little peckish myself." He was smirking at her now, his smile rather predatory as he took her hand, bringing her fingers up to his mouth and running his tongue down the pads of her fingertips, making her moan.

When he moved to kiss her she ran her hands down his naked chest to stroke his well-sculpted stomach. His palms snuck under the short fabric of her skirt, stroking her hips and ass, moaning when he realized that she wasn't wearing anything under her skirt, before tugging lightly at her thighs. She obligingly spread her legs for him, moving her hand down to stroke him through his boxers, moaning into his mouth when she found him already hard for her.

His hands explored the sensitive skin of her inner thighs before stroking her dripping entrance. He plunged two fingers into her heat, and she moaned, tipping her neck to the side to allow him to create small red marks on her creamy skin. She looped her arms around his neck, leaning back against the cold metal door of the fridge and gasping at the loss of his fingers when he pulled them out of her. "How far can you spread your legs for me, love?" he asked, his hot breath on her ear making her core ache for his touch.

"Let's see."

She ducked out from where he'd been trapping her against the fridge and lifted herself up on the short end of the sturdy kitchen table. Wriggling to the edge of it, she hooked her ankles around the table legs, her dripping pussy now open to his gaze.

He licked his lips, seemingly unconsciously, and walked over, his palms resting on the insides of her thighs, pressing against them as though to make sure she was as open as she could be.

She moaned at the way his fingers brushed against her sensitive skin before traveling down to her pussy, beginning to rub her clit with his ring finger, the tip of his thumb dipping into her entrance repeatedly.

"Do you like that?" he asked, his voice rough and low, as she threw her head back, grinding her pussy into his palm, his other hand flat against the kitchen table as he bent towards her to rest his forehead against hers, speaking against her lips.

"Yes."

"I love how wide you're spread for me, love. Your pussy practically begging to be taken."

She moaned at his words, and he captured her lips while her mouth was still open, timing the thrusts of his tongue in her mouth with the rhythm of him stroking her aching center. Her fingers wound into his hair, and she gasped as he increased his speed before withdrawing, making her whine at the loss of sensation.

He shoved down his boxers, freeing his thick hard cock. He stroked himself a few times before slipping his hands between her ass and the table, cupping it in his hands and pulling her up so that he could position himself at her wet opening, and pushing into her, her skirt riding up high on her thighs.

She moaned loudly, arching herself against him. He fucked her slowly, a stark contrast to their usual couplings, and her fingernails dug into his upper back as she clawed at him.

"Faster," she gasped out.

"No," he mumbled against her shoulder, where he'd been marking her with his lips.

"Why?"

"I want to feel you. To enjoy you."

"Please?"

He chuckled, briefly letting his forehead fall against her neck, still keeping up the rhythm of his hips against hers. "You want me to fuck you harder, my love?"

She shivered slightly at the possessive aspect of his words. _His _love. The words made her pussy clench around him, and she realized she _liked _how possessive he was of her.

"Yes."

"How much?"

Her breath came out in short gasps. Did he want her to _beg_?

"A lot."

"Hmm...Not very specific."

She narrowed her eyes. He wanted her to tell him how much she wanted him? To talk dirty?

She'd give him dirty.

"Do you see how open I am for you? How ready and wanting my pussy is for you?" she panted out. "I want you to take me fast, Klaus. I want your cock to fuck me so hard that I'm sore later. I want my legs to ache from spreading them so far for you."

"Fuck," he muttered, squeezing the flesh of her ass and moving faster, his balls slapping against the sensitive skin between her pussy and ass.

She rocked against him, and she could feel her orgasm building slowly within her, and as it did, her breaths became shorter and shallower. Her skirt was hiked so high up that it didn't cover her at all, and there was something about being fucked with her clothes still on that was incredibly arousing.

She let out a series of breathy moans as he slammed into her with increasing speed.

"You're so beautiful, Sweetheart. I love how desperate you are for my cock. How you moan as you clench around me," he breathed into her ear.

"Klaus…" she gasped out.

She _was_ desperate for him. He was right. Spreading her legs so far for him, grinding against him, _begging _him felt so filthy and hot and _right_ and she _needed _him. His cock felt so thick and _good, _and she was so turned on that she felt like she could sit there for the rest of her life, enjoying the feeling of his cock slamming deep within her.

"You're so tight for me, love. You're perfect." His fingers brushed the backs of her thighs under her skirt and he squeezed her ass. She was close, and as his finger started to circle her other opening, she felt herself nodding, her pussy clenching around him at the thrill and sin of it.

"Yes, do it. Please. I'm so close."

"Naughty girl, aren't you, sweetheart?" he breathed into her ear, and she nodded against his shoulder, rocking against his cock, absently wondering when he'd taken back control, but finding that she didn't care at all. In fact, she wanted it.

He pressed the tip of his finger into her and she came undone, practically screaming as she came around him. He groaned as he sped up his thrusts, panting in her ear.

Her fingernails pressed into his bare shoulders as she came down from her high, and she let her moans fill the air around them as he fucked her to find his own release.

* * *

**March 12th, 2013**

"Is this what you feel like every time they're gone?"

"Yep," Bonnie said shortly, barely looking up from her book.

Caroline had spent the last day fidgeting, pacing, starting movies and then stopping them twenty minutes in to pace some more, not eating, trying to eat, throwing away perfectly good food, and napping.

Stefan and Klaus had been gone for less than two days and she was already at the point where she was annoying everyone around her with her anxiety.

"Bonnie–"

"If you ask me when I think they'll be back again I will smack you over the head with this book so hard that you won't wake up until they're home."

Caroline glowered at her, but Bonnie just turned her book to the next page and kept reading.

"How do you deal with Kol not being here?"

"She becomes depressed and cries all day because she misses me so much," Kol said cheerfully as he walked into the room.

Bonnie threw a grape at him, which he cheerfully caught and popped in his mouth, making his girlfriend roll her eyes. "Actually, I just do what I normally do, but sure, if that's what you want to think."

Kol grinned and sat down next to her. "Speaking of, Darling, We're starting a long-termer this Friday."

Bonnie sighed. "How long-term?"

"Just a few months. We should be back by mid-June at the latest. I'm not sure of the details exactly, but hopefully it'll be long enough that we'll have a decent apartment."

"Have fun with that," Bonnie said disinterestedly, making Kol pout.

"You're not going to miss me?"

Caroline rolled her eyes and took a sip of her sparkling cranberry juice, nearly snorting it out of her nose when Bonnie informed Kol quite calmly that there were definitely parts of him she'd miss, but that she had artificial substitutes at the ready to compensate.

Kol raised an eyebrow and Caroline excused herself, resisting the urge to make vomit faces at her friend.

**XXX**

"We don't have to do this yet, Elena," Damon said again, already done with the conversation, even though they hadn't even been talking about it for fifteen minutes.

"The sooner we get it out of the way, the better," Elena insisted, settling back against the pillows of their bed. "I like Vladmir."

"Vladmir Petrova? Really?"

Elena shrugged.

"I still don't understand why it has to be Slavic, Elena."

"It doesn't. It's just tradition that it's from the origin of the family, which for the Petrovas is Slavic or Bulgarian."

Damon huffed and peeked over her shoulder at the list of names on her computer screen. "What about Boris?"

Elena made a face.

"Never mind, then," Damon muttered under his breath.

"I'll add Vladmir to the list," Elena said, ignoring the last few seconds of the conversation and scribbling the name down on the notepad.

"Okay. So that's what, five choices now?"

Elena nodded, scanning the list one last time before flipping the page over. "What about for a girl?"

Damon shrugged. "What do you want?"

"I've always liked Nadia."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! I know that a few chapters back I said that there would be five chapters to go, and I'm not sure if that's the case anymore, as I need to leave things somewhat open-ended in this (since I'm plotting a fic tentatively called _The Path Less Traveled_). ;)**

**As I said earlier, it was a bit concerning to me that there were significantly less reviews for last chapter than the ones before, and that always worries me because I wonder if I did something that people didn't like and no one felt comfortable telling me. This isn't me begging for reviews, because I really do write as much for me and my improvement as a writer as I do for you guys, but I won't get better if you don't give me feedback, even if it's constructive. I know some people flip out when given "negative" feedback, and I'd like to assure you that I don't do that. I need your constructive criticism just as much as I need your positive feedback (if not more!), and I'd really appreciate it if you told me what you thought, even if it's just a sentence. ;)**  
**I also know that I've been getting a little behind about responding to reviews, but I'm going to get back on track for that for this chapter. I so much appreciate the feedback, even when I don't respond! :)**

**Anyway, thank you again so much for reading, I'm sorry for the forever-long A/N, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
Let me know what you think :D**  
**Hugs!**  
**-Angie**


	22. Life Choices

**A/N: Hey everyone :) That was an overwhelming response to the last chapter. Thank you so much for your reassurances and feedback! :)  
Remember, this chapter has a three month time jump from the last one. There's more Katya and Kalijah in this one, for those who were asking. ;)  
And smut. Yay. :P  
I know I'm posting this early, but I wanted to get it out (I have homework) and I have a feeling you guys won't mind ;)  
Thank you to justanotherfiveminutes and CKHybrid for beta work.  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**June 10th, 2013**

Bonnie bit her lip, inspecting the syringe that she was holding carefully to make sure it had the correct amount in it. The gelatinous red liquid oozed around the edges of the vial, and Bonnie took a deep breath before she plunged it into Matt's arm.

He had volunteered to be the test subject for the very last stage of testing the serum, and Bonnie was almost positive that nothing would go wrong. "Hold your arm there, okay? Don't move it."

"Yeah, I know, Bon."

"And tell me if you feel anything weird. Even if it's something that you think is good."

"I know."

"I'm just going to sit over here."

"I know."

"Sorry," she said, blushing slightly.

She opened up her magazine, but couldn't concentrate, getting up to inspect a very irritable Matt's arm every few minutes. By the time two hours had passed, the large wound in his arm was starting to scab over, something that would normally take days, and by the seventh hour, it was completely scabbed over, and the skin was starting to contract to knit together again.

She didn't want to get her hopes up. The last few trials of the serum, though they'd been getting progressively more effective, had only sped up the healing process by a few days. She had spent longer on this version though, and had tested it on mice with excellent results. The goal was to make deep wounds heal within a day.

Vicki, Matt's sister who worked at the hospital, had the night shift, and Bonnie made sure that she knew to wake her up every hour or so, just to look at Matt's arm. Vicki shook her awake at fifteen minutes to midnight, after she'd only been asleep for about half an hour, and dragged her over to Matt. His wound was completely knitted together, though the new skin was still slightly pink.

"Oh my god! I did it!" Bonnie screeched, resisting the urge to jump up and down.

Matt started awake, and Bonnie excitedly pointed at his arm. Matt gave her a large smile when he looked and saw that he was healed. "Does this mean I can leave?"

"Nope," Bonnie said cheerfully. "We're keeping you here for observation, and then we'll test you again in a week or so."

She did it. She'd developed a workable version of the blood serum.

**XXX**

"Where's Stefan?" Caroline asked, wiping her feet on the doormat before walking through the entryway to the front room of the boarding house.

"He's doing the same thing he's been doing for the past three days," Klaus said calmly from the couch.

"What's that?"

"Brooding in his bedroom with the door locked."

"Well, I guess everyone has to have a hobby," Caroline mumbled, before walking up the stairs to bang on Stefan's door.

"Go away, Bekah."

"I'm not Bekah. Let me in."

The door swung open. "I don't want to talk about it, Care."

Caroline nodded once, pushing past him into his room and sitting on his bed.

"Care…"

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I'm going to sit here until you lose the broodyface."

He sighed. "You're not going to leave it alone, are you?"

"Nope."

He was quiet for a few moments before he spoke. "I think Silas is thinking about transferring me."

"How do you know?"

Stefan sighed, sinking down next to Caroline. "I don't. He's just been hinting that I might be happier in Venice."

"Italy?"

He nodded.

Caroline bit her lip. She didn't want Stefan to leave. Sure, they'd been living apart for years, but now that she had him near her again, she had almost forgotten what it was like to not be able to drop by his house any time.

"Well," she said quietly, "Do you want to move?"

He snorted. "I don't want to really start to assume anything until Silas tells me, but if he does, I'd leave quickly. There wouldn't be much time to say goodbye."

"You're worried about telling Rebekah."

"Yeah. Basically."

"Couldn't she come with you?"

"It doesn't work like that," he said quietly, shaking his head. "We'd have to be married, or at least engaged, and there would have to be another handler free in Italy to take her, since they probably wouldn't put us on the same team..."

"And you're not sure you want to marry her," Caroline finished his statement.

He sighed. "Well, it's a big step. Commitment is...It's not easily broken here."

"You could always ask her to marry you and have a really long engagement?" Caroline suggested.

"Yeah, that would work if she had the ability to wait longer than five minutes for anything, I guess, but even if she did agree to that, I don't know if she'd want to leave."

"What do you mean?"

Stefan was silent, apparently trying to gather his thoughts.

"Family means a lot to Rebekah."

"Okay."

"I don't know if she'd want to leave them."

"It doesn't hurt to ask," Caroline said quietly.

"I know, but what if she says no?"

"Then she says no."

"You're not being all that supportive," Stefan pointed out.

"Well, if you want me to say that you should bring her with you and get married and live happily ever after, I will. But you and I both know that Rebekah needs to make her own choice, and that if she doesn't choose you, that's something you need to know sooner rather than later."

He nodded. "It's not just Rebekah, though."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know if Klaus would let her leave."

Caroline frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked again.

"Klaus might not like her leaving, and he'd stop it."

"Why? Rebekah's an adult, she can live her own life."

"And Klaus is Klaus."

Caroline sighed. "Look, why don't you talk to Silas about it and see what he says. Who knows, you might just be overreacting. What did he say?"

"That I'd like Venice because there was good food."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Yeah. To me that does not scream, 'I'm moving you across the ocean to a new base', but if you're really worried about it, you should ask. If he says he's thinking about it, you can talk to Rebekah about it. I'll work on Klaus and try to get him used to the idea, okay?"

"Sure," Stefan said, still looking miserable.

"I'm hungry."

Stefan laughed. "I'm Stefan. It's nice to–_Ow!_"

Caroline pulled her elbow back to her side and folded her hands in her lap primly. "I'd like an apple pie and cookies please."

Stefan snorted.

"What? You were going to stress-bake anyway. I might as well get to choose things so I can take them home."

**XXX**

"Katerina?"

"In the bedroom," she called, hearing the click of Elijah's dress shoes as he approached.

She smiled at him as he walked in, pulling his suit jacket off immediately and flinging it over the chair in the corner, and loosening the cuffs of his shirt.

"How was your day?" she asked.

"Dull and monotonous. And you?"

She smiled more widely. "Exciting."

"Was it?" he asked, almost absentmindedly as he unbuttoned his shirt, shrugging it off.

"Yep. I did the laundry."

"And that was exciting?" he asked, freezing, holding the polo shirt he'd been about to pull over his head in his hands.

"Well, it wouldn't have been if I hadn't found this," she said cheerfully, holding up a ring box she'd found in his suit jacket that she'd hidden under the pillow.

She didn't think she'd ever actually seen Elijah completely speechless, and she gave him a smug smile while he gathered himself.

"Right. Well, obviously you know what that is."

"No. Please explain," she teased, holding the box out to him.

He smiled slightly and opened it, showing her a white gold ring with a twisted band, a diamond in the middle with sparkling blue sapphires on the sides.

"Katerina…" he started, though he seemed to lose his words after her name. She sat there patiently, a smirk growing on her face as he fumbled for something to say.

After about thirty seconds, she took pity on him. "Repeat after me: I love you, Katerina," she said, adopting a stuffy british accent for the words he was supposed to repeat.

He looked like he was trying not to laugh, but obliged. "I love you, Katerina."

"Insert a compliment about one of your favorite qualities that I possess."

His lips twitched again. "You are the only one in the world that can make me laugh."

"Describe me in three adjectives."

"You are intelligent, blunt, and captivating."

"Put it all together and then ask me the actual question."

He laughed, shaking his head. "I love you, Katerina. You are the only one in the world that can make me laugh. You are intelligent, blunt, and captivating. I have never felt any happier than I have since the day you decided to give me a chance to attempt to hold your heart as thoroughly and as surely as you hold mine. Will you marry me?"

"Yes," she said primly, switching her tracking ring to her another finger and sticking her hand out. "Excellent tack-on at the end, there. Very classy."

He laughed, shaking his head as he slid the ring on her finger.

"I love you, Katerina."

"I love you, too."

**XXX**

"How is she?" Elena asked excitedly as Sage spread the clear gel over her belly.

"You'll see in just a sec," Sage said patiently, turning the monitor towards Elena so that she could see her baby.

"Oh my gosh, come look at her, Damon!"

Damon looked up from what he had been doing on his phone. "She looks exactly the same as she did a month ago, except bigger," he said, starting to turn back to his phone before catching sight of Elena's unimpressed face. "And more perfect," he added unconvincingly at the end, his voice and smile awkward enough to make Elena laugh slightly.

"She is perfect."

Sage gave her an indulgent smile, and Elena resisted the urge to wince.

She knew that Sage hadn't been all that impressed with her when she'd come to the ward to ask for her to perform a pregnancy test, and their relationship hadn't exactly improved, though it hadn't worsened either.

Sage had not been happy with what she'd perceived as Elena being irresponsible and forgetting her pills. To be honest, Elena had been incredibly close to pointing out that there really wasn't much she could do about the situation at this point more than a few times, but had refrained. She had a feeling that if she wasn't so distracted by the screen in front of her, she would be giving Sage a piece of her mind.

"Do you have any questions, Elena?"

Elena shook her head, wriggling at the odd sensation of having the gel wiped off of her belly before she pulled her shirt back down and slid off the table.

"Thanks, Sage."

The other woman nodded, waving them out.

Elena felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and pulled it out to look at the text. She squealed happily, thrusting the phone in Damon's face, which he took from her to read.

"Kat's getting _married_."

**XXX**

"Uncle Nik!"

Caroline set her cell phone on the coffee table in the living room and opened the door for Katya.

"Hey, Katya. Did you have a lesson with Klaus today?"

"Yeah. Can I come in?"

Caroline had to restrain a smile at the girl's bluntness (knowing that it would encourage her, and Katya was dangerously close to the age where it would stop being cute, if she wasn't there already) as she stood aside, letting Katya stride past her.

"Where is he?"

"I think he went to drop by the art store for something. He'll be back soon. Do you want some water or a snack or something?" Caroline asked, trying to be a good host, even though the house wasn't actually hers.

"Do you have juice?"

Caroline nodded, and Katya dropped her backpack next to the kitchen table before settling down in a seat, resting her chin on her arms, sitting up when Caroline set a glass of juice and some graham crackers in front of her.

"Thanks, Aunt Caroline."

Caroline dropped the glass she had been about to fill for herself, but managed to snag it out of the air before it hit the counter.

"Um. Are you okay?"

_Aunt Caroline?_

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. What are you doing today with Klaus?"

Katya shot her an unimpressed 'worst-lie-ever' face, but obligingly answered. "We're working on cursive."

"Cursive?" Caroline asked, slightly surprised.

She didn't know they still bothered teaching that in school. She could write her own name in it, but that was about the extent of her ability.

Katya nodded, pulling out a piece of paper and sliding it towards Caroline, who stared down at it, slightly bewildered when she realized she didn't recognize any of the symbols.

"Hebrew has two written alphabets: cursive and print," Katya was saying cheerfully as she pulled out a large stack of flashcards from her backpack.

Caroline heard the door open and turned to see Klaus standing a few inches behind her. "Katya. I didn't realize that you were planning on coming this early."

Katya shrugged. "It's fine. Aunt Caroline got me snacks."

Caroline closed her eyes briefly again and then shot a warning look at Klaus, who couldn't seem to suppress a smug grin as he reached out to hook an arm around her waist, squeezing her hip lightly. "Right. That was very nice of Aunt Caroline, wasn't it?"

"Ass," Caroline mumbled, rubbing her temples.

"Are you okay?" Katya asked, frowning.

"I think your Aunt just has a headache," Klaus said cheerfully, smoothly dodging the elbow that Caroline aimed at his ribs.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go take a rest."

"Okay. Can I wake you up after Uncle Nik and I are done? He told me that you could help me learn how to do a front handspring."

Caroline shot Klaus an exasperated look at the fact that he seemed to have volunteered her to help Katya. He gave her a helpless shrug, though the giant smirk on his face didn't do him any favors.

"You can call me and see if I'm up."

"Why would I call you?" Katya asked. "You'll literally be up a flight of stairs."

Caroline opened her mouth to correct Katya, decided that she'd rather not pursue the current line of conversation, closed it again, and then stomped up the stairs to Klaus's room, shooting him a filthy glare over her shoulder as she went, pausing at the top when she heard Katya speak.

"Why's she mad?"

"She's just a bit unhappy with me at the moment."

"'Cause I called her Aunt Caroline?"

"Partly."

"What's the other part?"

"Your Aunt Caroline is always mad at me about something," he said, though Caroline could hear the smirk in his voice.

There was silence for a moment before Katya spoke again. "I like her."

She heard Klaus chuckle. "I like her, too."

"Yeah. She's really nice," Katya said casually.

"That she is."

There was silence for a moment, and Caroline turned to leave thinking that the conversation was over.

"Are you going to get married?"

Caroline froze at Katya's question, and she could almost see Klaus doing the same in her mind's eye.

"Why do you ask?"

"I want to know."

"Well, that's a very private question."

Caroline was surprised at how patient he was being, and let a smile overtake her face at the genuine fondness for his niece that she heard in his voice.

"Fine. Do you want to marry her?"

"We just started seeing each other six months ago, Katya."

"That doesn't answer my question."  
There was silence for a moment before she heard Klaus's voice float up the stairs.

"I think it's time to start working."

* * *

**June 20th, 2013**

"..And it worked!" Bonnie was telling him excitedly from the other end of the line.

"That's great, Darling," he said, smiling.

He could practically see her jumping up and down in her office, her lab coat half off with a giant smile on her face.

"I know, I'm so excited!"

"I'm excited for you."

She laughed. "When do you think you'll be home?"

"We're getting ready to leave now, actually. We should be home by tomorrow. But don't tell anyone I told you that. It's classified," he said jokingly, though she knew that he was being serious.

"Of course."

He balanced the phone between his shoulder and ear as he tugged the handle out of his rolling suitcase, kicking it slightly to tip it so that he could pull it behind him as he walked to the elevator of the apartment building.

"I'm going to have to let you go now, Darling. I'll be using the elevator quite a bit. We're loading up the car."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"I love you."

He could almost hear her smile as she responded. "I love you too, Kol. Talk to you soon."

"Tomorrow," he said before hanging up and sticking the phone in his back pocket.

He pressed the ground floor button and when he walked out to the car he saw Jeremy shuffling things around in the trunk. "Where's Tyler?"

"Probably in the apartment packing."

"Shouldn't he have done that hours ago?"

Jeremy just rolled his eyes and didn't answer.

"When do you think he'll be ready to go?"

"Considering I haven't been upstairs for the past half hour and don't know where he is in the packing process, I'd estimate three minutes and forty-two point seven seconds."

Kol huffed. "Don't have to be so rude about it, mate."

"Sorry. I'm not feeling well today."

Kol's eyes snapped up to look at Jeremy. Though no one besides the three of them put any stock in it, Tyler and Kol always felt uncomfortable whenever Jeremy wasn't feeling well, since bad things tended to happen. Jeremy once joked that it was his sixth sense, but Tyler had not found it funny.

"All right, then. We'll be extra careful."

Jeremy nodded silently, and they both turned around when they heard wheels on the pavement to see Tyler approaching with his suitcase. "Sorry, I didn't mean to take that long."

"No problem," Jeremy said, standing aside so that Tyler could put his suitcase in the trunk before shutting it and heading to the driver's seat of the van.

The three of them piled in, Tyler winning the rock-paper-scissors contest for shotgun, and they started off on the freeway to the airport.

He couldn't wait to get home to see Bonnie. It had been a long three-and-a-half months.

**XXX**

Caroline moaned as she ground her barely-covered core into the bulge in Klaus's jeans. He rested his hands on her hips under her skirt, watching her as she practically rode him through their clothes above him, tugging her shirt over her head and throwing it to the side so that he could see her breasts bouncing, nearly escaping from her bra. She leaned down to kiss him, and he buried his fingers in her hair, the other hand sneaking under her skirt to pull her thong down her thighs and plunge two fingers into her dripping pussy.

She moaned into his mouth, before breaking away and resting her nose against his jaw, panting against his neck as he fingerfucked her.

"I missed you."

He pulled his fingers out of her and flipped them over, grabbing her wrists to pin them above her head on the pillows, her curls spilling out like a halo as he bit and licked her neck. "We were only gone for two days," he mumbled against her skin, before starting to suck gently, forming large red blotches.

She spread her legs farther apart, hooking them around his waist to pull him closer, moaning loudly at the feeling of the rough fabric of his jeans rubbing against her. He sat up quickly to pull his henley off, tossing it behind him, and went back to feasting on her lips, making the mistake of letting go of her wrists to pinch her nipples lightly through the thin fabric of her bra.

She squeezed his waist with her knees and flipped them again, kissing down his neck to his chest, darting her tongue over one of his nipples, making him groan, before continuing her trail of bites and licks to the waistband of his jeans.

She undid the button and fly, pulling them off of his body, and then tugged his boxers down to take his cock in her hand, pumping him a few times, her eyes darting up to look at him through her eyelashes. His gaze was lustful and dark, making her very aware of how empty the space between her legs felt. She rubbed her thighs together as she bent down, her skirt flipped to hang over her back because of the angle, leaving her ass in the air. She spread her legs slightly, knowing that there was a full length mirror behind her and he would be able to see how wet she was for him.

"I have a question," she said, slightly breathlessly, looking up at him, her lips barely brushing the tip of his cock as she talked.

His gaze immediately turned suspicious before he groaned as her tongue darted out to lick him lightly.

"Do you?" he asked, his voice slightly strained.

"Yeah, so, remember how you asked me to stay back from missions?"

He nodded warily, watching as she gave his cock a long hard lick from base to tip, swirling her tongue around the end.

"Well, I know that you really meant 'stay on base'," she said between swirls of her tongue, "Hypothetically, how mad would you be if Kat and I made reservations for dinner to celebrate Elijah proposing?"

His fingers were in her curls as he bucked slightly, trying to get her to take him into her mouth. "This isn't hypothetical," he commented, rather unnecessarily.

"Not really, no," she admitted, before taking the head of his cock in her mouth and sucking it lightly.

"You're trying to bribe me with sex."

She gave him a harsher suck before licking the tip of him lightly and pulling away, a small smile on her face at being caught out. "Yeah, kind of. Is it working?"

"How far away?" he asked, groaning as she took him back into her mouth, sucking harder, her hand wrapped around the base of his cock with cheeks hollowing out.

She pulled away again after a few moments, her words coming out as panting breaths on his cock, making him groan. "Only a mile or so. Not far."

She resisted the urge to smile as she let one of her hands drift between her legs to play with her clit while she took him in her mouth again, knowing that he was torn between watching her head bob up and down between his legs and her fingerfucking herself in the mirror.

"How long?"

She released the head of his cock with a small pop and licked her lips before answering. "Just to clarify, this isn't me asking permission. This is me asking how mad you'll be."

He nodded.

"Just a few hours. No boys allowed," before he could answer, she took him completely in her mouth, her lips descending down to the base of his cock, his tip hitting the back of her throat as her hand worked furiously between her legs. She sucked him hard, swallowing around the head.

"_Fuck, _Caroline. Yes, just like that," he said, looping his fingers through her curls and tugging them lightly, making her moan.

She knew he was getting close and she stopped abruptly, looking up at him through her eyelashes, her mouth completely still on his cock. He loosened his hold on her hair and she pulled up, licking his precum off of her lips. "How mad?" she asked again.

"Katerina is going with you?" he clarified.

She nodded.

"Text me every half hour," he ordered, wincing at the glare suddenly on her face. "Please," he added hesitantly.

She smirked and took him back into her mouth, spreading her legs wider in the mirror and adding another finger to the one already fucking her pussy.

"I'm close."

She hummed around him, her head bobbing up and down on his length. He pulled her hair a bit more harshly, shooting a jolt of arousal to her core, making her moan in surprise. He had tugged her hair softly before, but never like _that_.

And it was strangely arousing.

She pulled her fingers out of herself and tugged his wrist. He loosened his grip to let her up, though his fingers were still wound in her hair. "Are you all right?" he asked hesitantly.

"Do that again."

He raised an eyebrow, but obligingly tugged her hair, almost experimentally. She let out a soft, breathy moan as she felt herself contract around air, a more insistent ache present between her legs.

"You like that, sweetheart?" he asked smugly, his lips curling up.

She nodded.

"Do you like it when I pull your hair while you have my cock in your mouth then, love?" he asked, his voice dropping in tone.

She swore under her breath, her eyes fluttering shut, making him grin.

"Is that a yes?" he teased.

"I think I'd like it better if you were fucking me while you did it," she said, a small smile growing on her face as his hand fell away and she sat up, crawling on top of him so that they were nose to nose, and he gripped her hips.

"Oh, really? And how do you want me to fuck you, Caroline? Would you like me to pull your head back while you ride me so that I can run my teeth over your nipples? Or–" he flipped them over suddenly, looming over her so that his hard cock was pressing insistently against her thigh as he breathed his next words in her ear, "Do you want me on top of you, tugging your hair so you're pressed against the mattress while I fuck you? Or would you rather I take you from behind? Squeezing that pretty little arse of yours that I love so much while I pull your head back and listen to you scream my name?"

He bit her earlobe after he'd finished and she moaned. "Behind," she panted out, her head tipping back as he feasted on her jawline.

"Hands and knees then, love," he said as he rolled off of her.

She turned over quickly, reflecting that, though she'd probably skewer him with one of his own paintbrushes if he talked to her this way in front of anyone else, there was something incredibly filthy about it in private that made her pussy ache for him.

She felt the head of his cock brush against her folds and pushed back against him, moaning quietly. He entered her in one thrust, one hand gripping the flesh of her ass, the other winding back into her curls, pulling them hard. She moaned loudly. "Yes, just like that."

She felt his fingernails rake against her ass and moaned, feeling the pressure in her abdomen building quickly, her pussy clenching tightly around him. "I'm close," she gasped out.

He gave her hair a harsh tug and rubbed her clit with his other hand, and the pressure in her lower belly snapped, making her clench around him, screaming his name.

It took him mere moments to reach his own high after she came, and soon they were snuggled up against each other, their legs entangled. "I love you," he said quietly, stroking her hair lightly.

She made a small sound of agreement, his words sending a creeping warmth through her body, making her smile. "What time is it?"

He frowned and twisted to check his phone. "Five."

She swore loudly, quickly disentangling herself. "Oh my god, I only have half an hour."

She knew that he was watching her from the bed as she fussed around with her clothes and hair, trying to make herself presentable. She stuffed her feet into wedges and grabbed her phone from the side table and dropped it into her purse before turning to bend down to give him a quick kiss. "I'll see you later tonight."

"Text me every half hour, love." he reminded her.

"Every half hour. I promise."

**XXX**

Tyler groaned as they waited for the plane to taxi to the gate. Jeremy was fast asleep his brown hair brushing against Tyler's jaw, and Kol was playing some sort of game on his phone. It was a good twenty minutes before they finally started moving to park at the gate, and Tyler gently shook Jeremy awake. "Hey, Jer, we landed, time to wake up."

Jeremy grumbled something under his breath and sat up, yawning. "We're here?"

Tyler nodded, unbuckling his seatbelt even though they hadn't stopped yet, causing a flight attendant to shoot him a dirty look, which he ignored as he bent down to grab his carry-on from under the seat.

As they all clambered off the plane and walked together through the airport, Tyler felt tense. Kol had told him that Jeremy was having a bad feeling about that day, and though he honestly sort of felt like his boyfriend's feelings were more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than anything, it didn't hurt to pay attention.

Mason had offered to pick them up at the airport, and so they met him at the baggage claim, where he met them with coffee for each of them. Tyler took his latte, sipping from it happily, and following his uncle to the car.

Once they were on the road, he felt sort-of groggy, and he had trouble keeping his eyes open. He felt Jeremy slump against him and frowned before turning to see Kol's head hit the window beside him as he slumped over. He didn't manage more than a look at his Uncle's guilty face in the rearview mirror before he slumped over, unconscious.

**XXX**

Katerina sipped her water as she giggled with Caroline about Elijah's proposal, before frowning as she saw Mason enter the restaurant, scanning the restaurant until he found them. He walked over, neatly dodging two waiters with platters of food.

"Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to borrow Caroline for a few minutes."

"Why? What's going on?" Katerina asked.

"Actually, it's probably okay if you know too. Here, c'mon, let's talk outside."

"But we haven't paid," Caroline said, looking suspicious.

Katerina rolled her eyes. "It's fine, Care. Let's go talk, Mace."

He nodded, leading them to the door and then holding it open for them as they passed through. Katerina barely got a glance of Kol's unconscious face pressed against the glass of the van parked in front before there was the sharp pain of a needle in her neck and her vision went black.

**XXX**

Klaus paced the house, becoming more agitated by the second. He glanced at his phone again even though he knew it hadn't lit up with a text. He hadn't heard from Caroline for an hour and a half, and though he knew it was probably silly, he was getting nervous. He had called her once, and it had rung a few times before going to voicemail, indicating that she'd ignored his call.

He ran his hand through his hair again, before deciding that she told him that she would text him, and if she wasn't, then she must know he'd try to find her. He pulled out his phone to call Marcel.

"Marcel, I need you to track Caroline's ring," he said when the other man picked up, without so much as a greeting.

Marcel seemed to have picked up the badly hidden panic in Klaus's voice, because he immediately agreed. Klaus heard the click of keys in the background before Marcel told him that she was at the restaurant she said she'd be at with Katerina.

He sighed, feeling slightly relieved. Maybe she'd forgotten, or she and Katerina were having an important conversation and she didn't want to be interrupted. Still though, it was odd.

He walked down to the house Caroline shared with Katerina and saw a rather anxious-looking Bonnie walking towards him. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and she walked over. "Have you seen Kol?"

"Isn't he on a mission?" Klaus asked blankly.

Bonnie shook her head. "No, he called me right before he got on the plane from Iowa and said he'd be back by a few hours ago."

Klaus gritted his teeth. In this business, there was no such thing as a coincidence. In the next ten minutes, it was established that Tyler, Jeremy, and Kol's rings were all still at the airport, which was odd because Kol had mentioned to Bonnie that they were being picked up by Tyler's Uncle Mason.

When they looked up Mason's tracker ring, he was at his house, but when Jules answered and confusedly told them that Mason wasn't home, Klaus felt dread unfurl in his stomach.

He ran three red lights and four stop signs before braking suddenly in front of the restaurant, practically sprinting towards the door before something shiny caught his eye in the gutter.

Caroline's ring.

* * *

_**June 17, 2013**_

"_Why's she mad?" Katya asked after they heard Caroline's footsteps stomp up the stairs, though he frowned briefly when he didn't hear the slam of his bedroom door._

"_She's just a bit unhappy with me at the moment."_

"'_Cause I called her Aunt Caroline?" Katya asked uncomfortably._

_He knew that Katya was incredibly fond of Caroline, to the point where she treated her like family. He wasn't sure what brought on Katya's attachment, but he certainly wasn't complaining. _

_He was quite aware that his niece was a bit of a brat, but she cared deeply for her family, and the more people that cared for Caroline the better, in his opinion. It kept her safer._

_He did acknowledge that Caroline was most likely not all that comfortable with the title. She'd come around eventually though, he was sure, especially after what he had planned for the next week._

"_Partly," he admitted, with a shrug, before adding in a low enough voice that Caroline wouldn't be able to hear should she be eavesdropping (as he suspected), "But keep doing it, sweetheart."_

_Katya gave him an eyeroll so incredibly reminiscent of Caroline's that he wondered how many times Sage had asked her to babysit while he had been away. Granted, it kept Caroline busy and less anxious, but it also appeared that Katya was picking up lots of her habits._

"_What's the other part?"_

"_Your Aunt Caroline is always mad at me about something," he said, grinning._

_Katya nodded, biting her lip. "I like her," she said pointedly._

_Klaus laughed quietly. "I like her, too."_

"_Yeah. She's really nice," Katya said casually._

"_That she is," he agreed._

"_Are you going to get married?"_

_Klaus raised an eyebrow, acutely feeling the tiny piece of metal in his pocket as though it was burning._

"_Why do you ask?"_

"_I want to know," she said, shrugging._

"_Well, that's a very private question," he scolded, ruining the effect slightly by smiling._

"_Fine. Do you want to marry her?"_

_He shrugged. "We just started seeing each other six months ago, Katya."_

_But he was already sure that he wanted her. He'd been sure for awhile now, but he knew that she'd never agree if he moved too quickly._

"_That doesn't answer my question," Katya said, annoyingly perceptive, as always.  
Klaus held a finger to his lips before pulling out the key from his pocket, showing it to Katya, while gesturing with his other hand, first to the staircase Caroline had walked up, and then to the front door._

_Katya gave him a bright smile, and he couldn't help but smile back as he tucked the key back into his pocket, before speaking. "I think it's time to start working."_

_He let out a sigh of relief when he heard his bedroom door close quietly. He'd been right, she was getting much better at eavesdropping._

* * *

**June 20th, 2013**

He picked it up and unfastened one of his necklaces, smoothly sliding the ring onto the cord before refastening them. He felt an odd sense of calm wash over him, which he knew was his adrenaline squashing all of his instinct to panic. He pulled out his phone, mechanically calling Silas to disseminate the news, knowing that Katerina must have been taken too, not paying too much attention to what was said, instead spending the time considering his options.

He could question everyone in the near vicinity, or try to figure out what car Mason had taken and track the license plate...There were many strategies he could use to attempt to locate Caroline, none of them all that reliable unless they found a promising lead.

He did know one thing for sure, though.

He knew who had ordered her kidnapping.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter!  
Do we like Aunt Caroline? ;) How do we feel about all the big relationship steps happening? What do we think will happen when Mason brings them to Mikael? Let me know what you thought! Writers only get better with feedback :)  
We are _very _much in the home stretch now. The next chapter is the last one, and it's completely written.  
As always, you can follow me on tumblr at thetourguidebarbie, on polyvore at zarialk, and on twitter at AngieWritesKC. :)  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	23. A Deceptive Calm

**A/N: So here we are with the last chapter of The Travelers. I was going to post this on Tuesday, but for a variety of real life reasons I'm posting it early. There will be a sequel. Longer A/N at the bottom, but you should know that this is not the end :)  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

**June 20th, 2013**

Tyler's vision was incredibly blurry when he woke, and he ignored the sharp pain in his head when he sat up quickly and scanned the tiny room. It was completely bare, with painted walls and hardwood floors, no windows, and a single metal door on the other side from where he'd been lying. He stood up shakily, walking to the door slowly, but when he touched the handle, he swore as a reasonably weak electric shock pulsed through his body.

The door was unlocked a few seconds later and his uncle walked in.

"What's going on?" Tyler immediately asked.

Mason held up a finger to his lips, propping the door open with a small wedge of wood, and Tyler stayed silent, though his eyes were narrowed in rage.

"Look, you need to get out of here," Mason said, speaking quickly.

"Where's Jeremy?"

"It doesn't matter right now."

"I want to know where he is," Tyler insisted, balling up his fist, prepared to punch his uncle.

"He's safe. I made a deal with Mikael–"

"Mikael? As in Kol's dad?"

"Yes. He said he'd let you go if I helped. Look, I didn't have a choice, all right? He said he'd kill you and Jules...But I have a plan."

"A plan?" Tyler asked, his voice incredulous. "You drugged and kidnapped Jeremy, Kol, and me and you expect me to believe that you have a plan to rescue us?"

Mason huffed irritably, his movements twitchy. "Look, Mikael said you can go under the condition that you didn't return to base."

"But–"

"Tyler, shut up and listen to me. I took your tracker off in the airport parking lot, and Mikael gave me a new one for you so that he could make sure that you didn't go back to base. I want you to leave with it, put it on a moving car or feed it to a squirrel or _something_, and head straight back to base and tell them where we are."

Tyler's mouth opened and shut before he spoke again. "This makes no sense. Why didn't you just tell us where Mikael was in the beginning? You could have saved us a lot of time."

"Because I didn't know where he was. Look, this is really complicated, and I just need you to trust me."

"_Trust _you? Are you serious right now?"

"Tyler, you need to leave. Take my advice or leave it, but you need to go."

"What about Jeremy?"

Mason pushed open the cell door and pulled Tyler out of it, pressing a ring identical to what had been his Traveler ring into his palm before pointing down the hallway. "Go, Tyler."

Tyler went.

**XXX**

Klaus sat in front of his laptop, peeking through his fingers at the scene in front of him. He had been sent a link from one of those self-destructing email addresses that led to a live stream from a camera placed in the room where Caroline was being held.

He had been practically fused to the chair watching for the last three hours waiting for April, Matt, and Marcel to finish tracing the source. She had finally woken up to see his father standing in front of her less than ten minutes before, and he almost couldn't bear to watch the conversation they were having.

"_He's going to kill you all," Caroline said quietly, her legs crossed delicately at the ankle, and her handcuffed wrists folded primly in her lap. _

_Mikael laughed cruelly, leaning against the wall, his eyes fixed on her._

"_Who will?"_

"_Klaus."_

Yes, he would. Slowly. He would make all of them suffer. He would string Mikael up by the wrists and burn him alive...

"_Do you know who I am?"_

_Caroline snorted. "Mikael Mikaelson, I'd assume. Also, seriously? Mikael Mikaelson? Were your parents just uncreative or did they hate you?"_

Klaus winced. There were times when he appreciated Caroline's sheer nerve, and times when he desperately wished that she wasn't so fond of baiting people while she was in a precarious position. This moment fit into the latter category.

_She screamed, Mikael having backhanded her across the face. _

"_Bastard," she spat, her eyes filled with tears._

"_Actually, that would be Niklaus. I was simply the innocent victim of an adulterous wife and a set of unhappy circumstances."_

Klaus felt himself roll his eyes in spite of himself.

"_You cannot possibly be the victim of anything besides the torment of a shitty gene pool."_

He winced as she screamed again.

"_What do you want?" she asked quietly, a bead of blood dripping down her chin._

"_I want Niklaus to come to try to save you," Mikael said, now staring right at the camera. "Of course, he won't find us in time, I've made sure of it. He has until noon tomorrow before I begin to torture you, and I will kill you slowly and painfully. He will see this video, you know. Do you have anything you want to say to him before you die?"_

_Caroline smiled, though it wasn't her usual bright one. It was cold and venomous._

"_I have lots of things to say, but I can just tell him in person tomorrow after you're dead."_

Yes, that was his Caroline.

He would find her, of course. He had a few ideas already of where to look. His cell phone started vibrating next to his keyboard with a call from an unknown number, and he picked it up.

"Klaus?"

"Lockwood?" he asked, slightly confused, before his heart started pounding in his chest. "Weren't you kidnapped with the rest of them? Were you in on this–"

"Klaus, Mason kidnapped us all, but apparently he made a deal with your father to let me go, and he told me to tell you where we were. I stole this phone from someone on the street, and I'm going to break it after we finish talking, so don't call it back."

Klaus knew that time was of the essence, and to let Tyler get out all of his information. He'd have one of the security team find the location on satellite just to make sure.

"Go on."

"They're being held in New Orleans. Here, let me text you the address." There was some shuffling and a few clicking noises before Klaus's phone chimed and Tyler spoke again. "Should I wait here or head back to base?"

"Why are you asking me?" Klaus said irritably, already planning how long it would take to get to New Orleans.

"Um, aren't you in charge of the mission?"

Yeah, he supposed he must be.

"If you're sure that they're not tracking you, go to the base in New Orleans. Otherwise, use your emergency card and get a hotel room close to their location, but far enough away that you'll have a head start if needed. Get two beds, as well."

"Got it."

"Do you have any other information?"

"I'd assume you know, but it's your dad that has them. I didn't see any sign of anyone else helping, but I'm sure he has other people. Anything else you need me to do?"

"No. I'll be in touch," Klaus said, hanging up.

**XXX**

Caroline glared up at Mikael, who hadn't shown any sign of leaving yet, though they'd both been sitting in silence for what felt like hours.

She wasn't sure what to do. Her hands were cuffed in front of her, and her waist was tied to the back of the chair. Her ankles were tied down to the chair legs, but there was enough slack in the rope to be able to cross them. From what she could tell, she had nothing to use to help her break out. He'd taken everything away besides her top and skirt-even her wedges. She still had her underwear on (thank god), but couldn't feel the pocket knife she always kept in the bra cup under her left breast.

She felt violated and dirty (and not in a good way), but there were bigger things to worry about than her boyfriend's abusive step-father groping her to remove any weapons she might carry around with her.

Well, when she put it like that…

She heard a click and her head snapped up to see Mikael turning the doorknob. "I'll be back soon. Don't try anything," he said simply, before leaving, closing the door behind him.

She wriggled around, trying to figure out how exactly the ropes were tied around her ankles. The ropes gave her about eight inches of slack total between the two of them, and seemed to be tied tightly. The rope around her midsection rubbed uncomfortably against her skin under her top. She bit her lip and shifted slightly, making sure the rope would move with her body, and when it did, she carefully gripped it with her handcuffed hands, pulling it around the chair like one might with a belt, ignoring the burning sensation it made against her abdomen, until the knot was at her front.

She felt like it was too easy. This kind of escape meant a trap. It would probably give him the excuse he needed to torture her early or something.

She studied the knot made in the rope, and undid it, before re-tying it in a similar, but sloppier way. She pulled the rope around so that the knot was in the back again and experimentally leaned forward, smirking when it fell away, landing across her lap.

She doubted that he would check for the knot if he found her in the same condition as when he'd started. She didn't know how much time she had, but she bent down to attempt to do the same thing to her ankles, managing to re-tie the ropes satisfactorily before she re-did the one around her waist quickly after hearing footsteps in the hallway.

She needed to make Mikael think that she was unable to defend herself. He had been an agent, and had years of training over her, but he also was older, and probably would run out of energy faster. He entered the room with a small bowl of cereal with milk, and she pressed her lips together as he dipped it in, realizing that he wasn't going to untie her to let her feed herself.

"I'm lactose intolerant," she immediately burst out as he pulled the spoon up, blurting the first stall tactic that came to her mind.

"I think I can handle a little gas."

"I throw up."

He wrinkled his nose. "Though disgusting, I fail to see what that has to do with me."

"It doesn't. It's just gross. And I don't know about you, but I don't like being covered in vomit. Would you do me a favor and get something else?"

"You aren't exactly in a position to make demands, little girl."

Her nostrils flared at being called 'little,' but she decided not to comment. "I'm not. I'm asking nicely. I'll even say please."

She had to struggle to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, and she wasn't sure it had worked, but Mikael snorted in laughter. "I see why my son likes you. He always preferred the fiery ones. Much more fun to break."

"How would you know? You left when he was a child."

"Did you think that I wouldn't check up on my children over the years?"

She shrugged. "Well, you don't exactly seem like you're in the running for 'World's #1 Dad' or anything, so excuse me for assuming the worst."

His lips quirked in a dark smile. "Fine, I'll humor you for now."

She felt a cold feeling creep up in her bones. For some reason the phrase, one Klaus used often, gave her the chills coming out of Mikael's mouth.

"Thanks," she mumbled, suddenly feeling like she was in way over her head.

**XXX**

Klaus was fidgeting impatiently in his seat, starting to wish he'd chosen to use the Travelers' jet. It was true that under the best circumstances, it would have taken about an hour and a half longer to fly the Travelers' jet to New Orleans instead of buying last-minute tickets on a domestic flight, but Murphy's Law had a way of interfering with things, and the flight had been delayed by half an hour before they'd even gotten to the runway.

Damon, Stefan, and Rebekah were all shooting him wary looks from the other seats in the row, and he knew that Finn must be doing the same from the seat behind him. Matt and Vicki Donovan were both seated in the row behind Stefan and Rebekah, deep in a whispered conversation.

It had been decided that the group should take Matt just in case they ran into tech problems, and they had been about to leave when Bonnie had hesitantly suggested she go just in case something went wrong and they had injuries.

This idea was immediately vetoed by Sage, Sheila, and Ayana, who had been at the meeting. Bonnie was too valuable in medical research to lose.

Vicki had the unfortunate honor of being a bit more expendable, so she'd been sent along with the rest of them, medical kit in hand.

It had been silently acknowledged by the group that some of them might not come back alive, and they were all on edge.

When the plane finally started down the runway, Klaus could almost hear the collective sigh of relief, and Finn leaned over the aisle as soon as they were in the air so that Matt could explain the plan for entrance more thoroughly, nudging Vicki when he made a point relevant to her, but mostly letting her stare out the window.

Stefan and Rebekah were silently clutching each others' hands, knuckles white, and Klaus realized that this was the first time they'd been on a mission together.

It startled him when he realized that he genuinely hoped that all of them made it out alive.

The flight to New Orleans was tense, but Tyler met them at the airport, tossing the keys to the van to Finn, who drove them all to the hotel that Tyler had gotten for them.

"I scouted their location a bit," Tyler said, throwing an exasperated look at Finn as the man prepared to tell him off for going out without orders. "Look, my boyfriend is in there, and he could be dead. Kol is basically guaranteed to come out of this fine, and Katerina is involved with Elijah, meaning that Mikael will think twice about killing her. He's keeping Caroline alive for obvious reasons."

His voice seemed to be rising steadily in anger, and Matt laid a hand on his friend's shoulder to try to get him to calm down. Tyler took a deep breath and continued in a more steady voice at a normal volume. "Jeremy is the only one in there that he'll see as expendable, okay? I need to get him out of there, and I had already told you guys where we were. I couldn't just sit around and do nothing."

Klaus was about to tell him that sitting around doing nothing would have been the best option, but stayed silent when he heard Matt speak. "I checked it out through satellite, and the map you drew us is mostly on-mark. We didn't know that there was a basement either, so thanks for that. There are security cameras stationed around the property. I managed to get the feed, but I can't control them. Their security is good, really good."

Klaus nodded, having expected this.

"The plan is to wipe out the location. We need to get the hostages out and eliminate any other survivors, including hostages that aren't ours. Is that clear?" Finn said in his quietly serious voice.

All the agents nodded.

"Rebekah and Tyler will go try to eliminate anyone who's outside the base. Keep guns to a minimum, guys. The more silent the kill, the better."

Klaus reflected that in some ways it was good that Caroline wasn't at the meeting to hear Matt talking about killing people silently in such a clinical tone. Rebekah and Tyler nodded together, sharing a significant look.

"Stefan will go this way and Damon will go this way," Matt said, gesturing to two entrances marked on the map. "You need to try to find where they're keeping everyone and get a feel for the situation. Kill anyone you see, and try to stay out of sight. Keep us posted."

"Got it," Damon said quietly, Stefan nodding along with his brother.

"Klaus, since it's pointless to give you any other mission, you're going to find Caroline and get her out. Kill Mikael on the way, if possible."

"Of course."

"Vicki, Finn, and I will be here," Matt continued, circling a location on the map. "That's where we'll meet up. We'll tell you if anything changes. Are we ready?"

Matt took a deep breath as they all nodded.

"Let's go."

**XXX**

Mikael had been gone mere minutes before the door creaked open again, and Caroline looked up to see a middle-aged woman with her hair pulled back into a severe bun walk in, her eyes sharp and calculating.

"Who are you?" Caroline asked.

The woman held a finger up to her lips, and closed the door behind her before immediately pulling out a key and unlocking Caroline's cuffs.  
"What's going o–"

The woman slapped a hand over Caroline's mouth, and Caroline frowned.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the woman said in a sharp whisper. "Let's get you out of these ropes."

Caroline simply tugged herself free, and the ropes fell to the ground. The woman raised an eyebrow before speaking again. "I'm going to take my hand away. Speak very quietly."

"Who are you?" Caroline asked in an urgent whisper as soon as the woman's hand fell away.

"My name is Esther, and I am here to help."

Caroline bit her lip. "Esther like, Klaus's-mother-Esther?"

The woman nodded silently, pulling a knife out of the back of her pants and thrusting it handle-first into Caroline's hand, ignoring the beads of blood that ran down her palm from the movement.

"I am going to take you out of the building, but I can't go any further than that."

"Can't you come with us?" Caroline asked in confusion.

Esther grabbed her arm firmly and steered her out of the room, pulling her gently down the hallway.

Caroline knew that she shouldn't trust the woman, but her gut feeling was telling her that Esther really didn't intend to hurt her. That she wanted to help. Esther smiled softly and shook her head. "No, I can't."

"But we can help you," Caroline insisted.

Esther stopped suddenly, going very still and pulling Caroline against the wall with her. Caroline listened hard and heard heavy footsteps approaching. "I need you to run when he gets here," Esther said harshly.

"What? I can't leave you here. Won't he kill you for helping me?"

"Yes."

"Then I definitely can't leave you."

Esther smiled softly, her whispered response slow and oddly comforting. "You cannot save everyone, dear girl."

The footsteps were becoming louder, and Esther gestured down the hallway, in the direction opposite from the way the footsteps were approaching from. "Run."

"Thank you," Caroline said quietly, before starting off quickly in the direction indicated, her footsteps silent, pausing quickly when she heard Mikael spit out about ten different incredibly insulting swear words at Esther, followed by her harsh yell of pain.

_You cannot save everyone, dear girl._

Caroline ran.

**XXX**

Klaus pushed through the door to the office building, running as fast as he could while staying silent. He didn't know where Caroline was, but he needed to find her. He paused as he heard rushed footsteps coming from his left, but they were too heavy to be Caroline's and they faded quickly, so he continued on in the direction he'd been going.

What he saw down the next hallway made him stop in his tracks. He approached the body slowly, taking note of his surroundings before getting close. It was his mother.

He knew that he should feel some sort of sadness, but he just felt strangely empty. He'd really never known the woman, and now he never would.

What was important was knowing why she was dead. He looked around and noticed that the door to the room at the other end of the hallway was slightly open, and he approached slowly, his hand on his gun.

The scent of Caroline's perfume hit him as he put his head in, and he saw the chair he'd seen her tied to over the livestream.

Could his mother have helped her escape?

He walked out of the room again, leaving the door as it had been, and walked back the direction he'd come, realizing that he must have either just missed her, or she was on her way out.

He'd only taken two turns before he heard the click of a gun behind him.

"Niklaus. To be honest I didn't expect you to make it, but I'm rather glad you managed to. Put your hands up and turn."

He did so, turning slowly to see Mikael a few yards away, his poised to shoot.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know," MIkael said carelessly, shrugging. "Your bitch of a mother helped her escape, but she's served her purpose. Now I have you here, and I can do what I've been itching to for years."

Klaus absently reflected that as the motives of villains went, trying to kill your bastard son was a rather weak one, but decided that now was not the appropriate time to question Mikael's priorities.

"Any last words?" Mikael asked, grinning darkly. "I was going to make this a long, drawn-out torture session, but if you're here I assume that means that others are as well."

"I have said everything I needed to say," Klaus said quietly, hoping that Caroline had managed to get out of the goddamn building alive.

Mikael raised an eyebrow. "You really do love her, don't you?"

Klaus's breath caught. He was selfish, he knew. He valued self-preservation above everything. It had always been that way. He very much enjoyed being alive, and he'd never had any reason to think that there would be a day that he'd be willing to give up his life for anything, whether a material possession or a person.

He would die for her, though.

"Yes."

He heard a series of gunshots, and closed his eyes, prepared for the hit, but it never came. He opened them in confusion to see Mikael's bloodied corpse on the ground and looked up to see Caroline breaking her stance, calmly putting the safety on the gun and tucking it into the waistband of her skirt.

"I wonder how many movies it'll take before villains stop gloating before they kill the hero and give them time to be saved."

"I'm not a hero," he pointed out weakly, his lips twitching at her eyeroll.

His heart was still beating incredibly quickly, and he wasn't sure if he'd ever processed so many different feelings in such a short length of time in his life. He wasn't even sure if he could accurately identify them all.

But Caroline was suddenly clinging to him, her face buried in his shoulder, just breathing him in, and he decided to think more about feelings later, and for now just enjoy her warmth pressing against him.

* * *

**June 21st, 2013**

"Oh, thank god you're okay!"

"Mom, get off me," Jeremy mumbled half-heartedly, letting Jenna pull him tightly against her.

"Your dad would be so proud of you, you know," she said tearfully.

Jeremy froze. Jenna didn't often talk about his biological father, Grayson Gilbert, but when she did it was always to say how proud he would have been of Jeremy.

He didn't know much about Grayson, only that he had joined along with his brother John, Elena and Katerina's father, and that Jenna had met him when her older sister Miranda had been his handler.

Frankly, Jeremy was rather fuzzy on the details, but the point was that Grayson died when Jeremy was very young, barely a year old, and Jenna had been a nineteen-year-old single mother locked in an organized crime ring.

He honestly felt like people underestimated his mother's strength. It couldn't have been easy.

Then, of course, Jenna met Alaric when he was transferred to Virginia, and the rest was history with them. Summer Saltzman, Jeremy's half-sister, had been born a little more than two years before.

Jeremy was the last of the Gilberts.

"This was not my first mission."

"Yeah, but it was the first one that you were in danger in, and from what I've heard you handled it well."

He shrugged, and Jenna sighed. "How's Tyler holding up?"

"Not well at all."

Jenna grimaced. "Well, I guess that's expected, really."

"I guess."

He'd found Tyler a few doors down from where he'd been kept, kneeling over his Uncle's dead body. Tyler hadn't cried or screamed. He'd just been strangely silent the whole ride home, clutching the note Mason had with him in his hand that he wouldn't let anyone read.

When they had returned to base, Tyler had been sent to meet Jules and Silas at his office, and when Tyler had come out, he had told Jeremy that the Lockwoods were blacklisted. They'd been forced back to the bottom of the totem pole of the organization. They both knew that the consequences could have been a lot worse, but Tyler had still excused himself to be alone for a while, which Jeremy understood.

"I'll text him later after we've both gotten some sleep."

Jenna nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan. I know you must want to get to bed, but I was hoping that you wouldn't mind staying with us for the night. I can make up your old room…?"

Jeremy nodded, fighting down a slight smile.

**XXX**

_Tyler,_

_Your parents would have been incredibly proud of you if they were still alive. Carol and my brother loved you very much, and they were taken much too soon._

_They would be less than impressed with me, however. I am a coward, and I have paid the price for it. They gave me the responsibility of raising you should they pass, and I've been a shit role model. The only favor I can do to myself is to end my life quickly and painlessly, since the execution that Silas would order for me would be neither._

_You're hardly an adult and you're already a better man than I. _

_I don't have much else to say, except that I don't want you to fester on this. I am not so self-centered as to think that you'll let my bad decisions influence your life, and I hope that you know that. _

_The Lockwood name will be blacklisted for this, but I know that you will make an excellent Gilbert (or addition to any other family, should it not work out with Jeremy)._

_I love you, kiddo._

**XXX**

"I'll have to keep you here until it heals," Bonnie said, trying to keep her voice from shaking as she put the needle down on the tray.

"Of course, Darling."

She gave Kol a watery smile and ran her hand gently through his hair, her eyes still glued to the large wound in his abdomen.

"What's wrong? I'm all right," Kol said, frowning slightly as Bonnie started crying.

"Yeah, but what if I hadn't finished the serum in time? You'd be dead."

"But you did finish the serum," Kol reminded her gently.

"But–"

"Bonnie. Stop fretting, please. I'm alive, healthy, and in love with you. What more could you want?" he asked teasingly, giving her a charming smile.

She hiccuped out a laugh, rolling her eyes and sinking down in the chair next to him, holding his hand.

"Bonnie?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm hungry."

She huffed. "Of course you are."

"Like, _really_ hungry."

She nodded. "That's completely normal. Your body is using a lot of energy to heal your wounds as quickly as the serum allows. I really should have called for food as soon as you woke up. What do you feel like?"

"I could go for a steak right about now. A big one. With wine glaze and scalloped potatoes and broccolini, and–"

"I'll call Stefan," she interrupted, pulling out her phone.

**XXX**

Stefan huffed as he put away his phone without answering the text, cuddling a very naked Rebekah against his chest. "Can you please tell me when I became the on-demand chef for the entire base?"

She laughed. "Just say no."

"But Kol's sick."

"Then you'll be the on-demand chef for the entire base as long as you keep letting it happen."

He snorted. "Yeah, I guess. After this I'll be done with it."

Rebekah opened her mouth and then shut it again, apparently deciding not to comment on the promise they both knew he wouldn't follow through on.

Stefan took a deep breath, knowing that he had to ask her the question sooner rather than later, and inwardly preparing for the rejection. "So, Silas is thinking about transferring me to Italy."

Rebekah snorted. "Yes, Caroline told me. And I think she's right and it's a load of bull, just so you're aware. Unless you've talked to him and he said–"

"I did."

Rebekah's mouth snapped shut. "Did you?"

Stefan nodded. "Yeah. He's not sure yet, obviously, especially since he doesn't really want to break up Klaus and me, and we both know that Klaus would refuse to leave if Caroline couldn't come, and she wouldn't want to leave without April, and Silas would have to accommodate _that _because Klaus would probably use a 'Caroline-is-happy-or-I'm-not-doing-it' ultimatum, and then that would just turn into the entire base moving to Italy."

Rebekah nodded slowly. "So it's not set in stone."

"No, it's not. But I'm having Caroline work on Klaus not throwing a fit at us moving in together. That is, you know, if you want to."

"So basically, you're asking me to move in with you just in case Silas decides to transfer you to Italy, in which case you'd want me to come with you there?"

"Just about, yeah."

Rebekah was silent for a moment before she sighed. "Let me think about it."

Stefan nodded.

"Fair enough."

**XXX**

It was well after sunrise when they'd finally made it back to base, and Caroline felt like she could sleep forever. She wasn't quite sure when she'd started sleeping at Klaus and Stefan's house more often than not, but there she was, watching Klaus rinse off his toothbrush and set it back next to the sink, moving sluggishly.

"So, now that Mikael's gone-" She began as he came back to the bed.

"Caroline, love, can we talk about this later?"

Under normal circumstances, she would have assumed he was just putting it off, but she suddenly realized just how tired he looked.

"Yeah. Of course."

She slid under the covers, and cuddled into him when he did the same. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Finding me."

"Always."

They were silent for a moment while Caroline decided how to word what she was about to say.

"I need a favor," she said, deciding to keep it casual enough that he could laugh it off if he didn't want to do it.

"Yes, love?"

"Can I borrow a house key? Indefinitely?"

He laughed quietly. "Funnily enough, I was going to offer you one tomorrow, though I would have used the word 'have' rather than 'borrow'."

"I'll agree, but I have a few conditions."

"When did this become me asking you?" Klaus asked, his lips twitching in amusement.

She just smirked. "I want the whole closet."

"Done."

"And you have to do dishes."

He grimaced. "Fine."

"And you will be completely okay with Stefan moving out to live with Rebekah, or at least act like it."

He glared at her. She just smirked at him, knowing she'd won.

"Agreed."

"Good."

He pulled her closer, burying his nose in her hair.

"Klaus?"

"Yes, love?"

"I love you."

She felt him stiffen next to her for a good ten seconds before he relaxed against her, his body molded tightly to hers.

"As I, you, Caroline."

* * *

**Almost six months later...**

**January 5th, 2014**

"Happy Birthday, Klaus," Caroline mumbled into Klaus's neck as she slumped against him, pleasantly sore already from their morning.

"Thank you, love."

"I still haven't forgiven you for not telling me your birthday last year when we were together during it."

He chuckled quietly. "It wasn't important."

She glared at him, though she knew that he couldn't see it, and sighed. "Yeah, well, I organized a party for you."

"Of course you did," he mumbled, shifting out from under her to lie on his side, with her pulled against him.

"It'll be fun," she said happily.

"When is it?"

"Tonight."

**XXX**

Caroline giggled at Elena's joke, the other girl holding Nadia against her shoulder. She didn't think that Elena had stopped smiling in the past month or so, and it was nice to see the other girl so happy.

Damon was leaving for his first mission after Nadia had been born the next week, and Caroline knew that Elena must be nervous, though the other girl was good at not showing it.

Stefan was still waiting anxiously to see whether he'd be transferred to Italy, and Rebekah was still pretending that it wasn't happening. April had been keeping an eye on Stefan as much as possible, trying to keep him from spiraling, and Matt would just watch her fuss, a small smile on his face.

Katerina and Elijah were getting married in less than a month, and everyone could tell that they were both over the moon (or as over the moon as Elijah allowed himself to be in public).

Kol and Bonnie were on the other side of the room glued to the television, both with their fingers flying over the XBox controllers, Jeremy and Tyler playfully fighting about who would play the winner.

And Klaus just sat beside her, his arm around her waist possessively, ignoring the fact that the party was for him, and let his thumb stroke her waist, as though just to reassure himself that she was there.

Caroline hadn't been on a field mission since the one that she'd gotten injured on, although she'd been cleared by everyone with the authority to clear her.

She frankly felt that she'd had enough killing and maiming for one lifetime, thank you very much, and was perfectly content to let Klaus handle all of it.

Not that she was just sitting at home. After a long conversation with Silas about options, she'd seriously considered what she'd wanted in life pre-Travelers, and had come to the conclusion that though she couldn't earn her degree in international relations (and save the world), she was still a people person.

Silas might run the organization, and Elijah and Elena might handle the contracts and liaise with clients, but Elijah had once off-handedly commented that he didn't know how they'd survived without her as a recruiting agent before.

She tracked down people that had potential and convinced them to join, and her recruits so far had some of the highest training scores for the past few years.

She was good at her job.

And it didn't even require killing people.

* * *

**A/N: And that's a wrap. Thank you so much for all your reviews, follows, and favorites. This was a blast to write, and I am so happy you guys enjoyed it. If you haven't checked out my other stories, I hope you do, and I hope that you enjoy them ;) **

**The sequel to this fic, The Road Less Traveled, should be out soon-ish. I'm working on some other stuff right now, but I hope to put it out as soon as I can. It will pick up almost as soon as the end of the mini-epilogue, so around mid-January of 2014. It's only very roughly outlined right now, so please feel free to give me ideas (though I can't guarantee I'll use them all). There are a lot of unresolved hints that I dropped and sub-plots that I left open-ended, and that's for a reason (which is that they'll be picked up in the next fic). An example of this is baby Nadia.**

**You can, as always, follow me on tumblr at thetourguidebarbie, polyvore at zarialk, and twitter at AngieWritesKC.  
Thank you so much to wondygal, justanotherfiveminutes, and CKHybrid for being fabulous and beta-ing the story at various points. You all are the most amazing people ever.**

**Please, PLEASE, let me know your thoughts. I depend on your reviews to know whether you guys liked the story and how my writing can get better. I am so much looking forward to any and all feedback you guys are willing to give me.  
All the hugs!  
-Angie**


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